The state of social insurance for agricultural workers in

W O R K I N GP A P E R

The state of social insurance for agricultural workers in the Near East and North Africa and challenges for expansion

Lucas Sato International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth (IPC-IG)

Published by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth of the United Nations Development Programme

working paper number 189march 2021

ISSN 1812-108X

International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth (IPC-IG) Working Paper No 189The state of social insurance for agricultural workers in the Near East and North Africa and challenges for expansionBy Lucas Sato

Published by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the United Nations Development Programme

Developed in Brazil by the International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth (IPC-IG)

The International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth is jointly supported by the United Nations Development Programme and the Government of Brazil

International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth (IPC-IG)SBS Quadra 1 Bloco J Ed BNDES 13ordm andar70076-900 Brasiacutelia DF - BrazilTelephone +55 61 2105 5000

ipcipcigorg wwwipcigorg

The IPC-IG is a partnership between the United Nations and the Government of Brazil to promote learning on social policies The Centre specialises in research-based policy recommendations to foster the reduction of poverty and inequality as well as promote inclusive growth The IPC-IG is linked to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Brazil the Ministry of Economy (ME) and the Institute for Applied Economic Research (Ipea) of the Government of Brazil

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FAO and UNDP encourage the use reproduction and dissemination of material in this information productExcept where otherwise indicated material may be copied downloaded and printed for private studyresearch and teaching purposes or for use in non-commercial products or services provided thatappropriate acknowledgment of FAO and UNDP as the sources and copyright holders is given and that neither FAO nor UNDP endorsement of usersrsquo views products or services is implied in any way

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ISBN 978-92-5-133912-1 [FAO]

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Suggested citation Sato L 2021 The state of social insurance for agricultural workers in the Near East and North Africa and challenges for expansion Brasiacutelia Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth Available at lthttpsdoiorg104060cb3150engt

CONTENTS

Acknowledgements 5

1 Introduction 6

2 Background urban-rural inequalities and the importance of social protection for rural areas 10

21 Agricultural sector in the NENA region 10

22 The urban-rural division in the NENA region 14

23 Why is social protection important for rural areas 16

3 Taking stock of contributory schemes in NENA 20

31 Overview of social protection systemsmdasha focus on social insurance 21

32 Agricultural insurance 27

4 Challenges for the expansion of social protection in the NENA region and best practices to overcome them 28

41 Lack of data 28

42 Legal framework and programme design 29

43 Financial barriers 33

44 Administrative and institutional barriers 36

45 Participation and information challenges 38

5 Conclusions 38

References 41

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1 Mean nominal monthly earnings of employees by economic activity (in 2017 USD PPP) 15

Table 2 Main risks and vulnerabilities faced by rural communities 16

Table 3 Potentialities of social protection in rural areas 18

Table 4 Social insurance indicators rural and urban areas 23

Table 5 Explicit legal exclusions and inclusions of agricultural workers in contributory social protection schemes in the NENA region (selected countries) 30

Table A1 Main International Labour Standards on social protectionmdashRecommendations49

Table A2 Main International Labour Standards on social protectionmdashConventions 49

Table A3 Main Conventions guaranteeing social insurance for agricultural workers 50

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1 Projected evolution of the rural and urban populations in the NENA region total and across three subregions 1950-2050 11

Figure 2 Employment in agriculture (as a share of total employment) Arab World 1991-2019 12

Figure 3 Agriculture forestry and fishing value added (as a percentage of GDP) Arab World 1975-2017 13

Figure 4 Employment in agriculture (as a share of total employment) and value added (as a share of GDP) of the agricultural sector per country as of 2017 13

Figure 5 Urban and rural poverty headcount rates evaluated at the national poverty line selected NENA countries 15

Figure 6 FAOrsquos social protection framework 19

Figure 7 Proportion of the population covered by social protection systems (as a percentage) 22

LIST OF BOXES

Box 1 Key concepts 9

Box 2 COVID-19rsquos consequences to informal workers and policy responses 20

Box 3 Moroccorsquos subsidies to the Mutuelle Agricole Marocaine drsquoAssurances 28

Box 4 Problems with voluntary coverage of social insurance schemes 34

Box 5 Social protection to small-scale fishers gradual legal inclusion and the importance of subsidies 35

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This Working Paper is the result of partnership between the International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth (IPC-IG) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nationsrsquo Regional Office for the Near East (FAORNE)

This paper draws on a first version drafted by Flavia Lorenzon and Nourjelha Mohamed Yousif Elhajand It was prepared by Lucas Freschi Sato (IPC-IG) under the coordination of Charlotte Bilo Anna Carolina Machado (both IPC-IG) and Dalia Abulfotuh (FAORNE)

The IPC-IG research team would like to thank Omar Benammour (FAO) Ana Ocampo (FAO) Christina Behrendt (ILO) Luca Pellerano (ILO ROAS) Mira Bierbaum (ILO) Quynh Anh Nguyen (ILO) and Christine Rouhana (ILO ROAS) for their extensive review and valuable comments and suggestions throughout the elaboration of this work

THE STATE OF SOCIAL INSURANCE FOR AGRICULTURAL WORKERS IN THE NEAR EAST AND NORTH AFRICA AND

CHALLENGES FOR EXPANSION

Lucas Sato1

Agricultural workers are exposed to many risks during their life cycle and are particularly vulnerable to covariate risks such as droughts armed conflict and pandemics Despite the great potential of social protection policies to protect this segment of the population agricultural workers are commonly excluded from social protection systemsmdashespecially from contributory schemesmdashdue to legal programme design financial administrative institutional participation and information barriers This paper analyses the availability of social insurance schemes for agricultural workers in the Near East and North Africa (NENA) region including many types of insurance old age disability and survivorsrsquo sickness and maternity work injury and unemployment as well as family and child allowances In addition we analyse agricultural insurance schemes as they play a critical role in protecting agricultural producers from the catastrophic impact of covariate risks We examine the barriers for agricultural workers to participate in contributory schemes highlighting good practices being adopted in NENA countries to address them This paper thus aims to help fill a gap in the literature regarding the role of contributory schemes for agricultural workers Most importantly it aims to highlight paths towards more comprehensive social protection systems capable of addressing the pressing challenges in NENA countries such as inequities between rural and urban populations lack of rural development and insufficient protection for rural families

Keywords social protection social insurance rural development agricultural workers Near East and North Africa

1 INTRODUCTION

Countries in the Near East and North Africa (NENA) region2 are experiencing various changes With economic restructuring and urban migration rates spiking unemployment is high and the share of gross domestic product (GDP) of traditional sectors such as agriculture is decreasing In addition the average age of agricultural workers is increasing and not enough youth are joining the sector exacerbating the already low levels of labour force participation and high levels of youth unemployment that characterise the region3 (Bird and Silva 2020)

1 International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth (IPC-IG)

2 See Box 1 for regional definitions used in this Working Paper

3 Analysing the labour markets in the MENA region Bird and Silva (2020) observed that the MENA countries have the lowest youth labour force participation rates and youth employment to population ratios in the World a result mainly driven by the low female participation in the labour force

International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth 7

Although the agricultural sector is still responsible for a crucial share of jobs in NENA (20 per cent of total employment in the Arab World as of 2019) (World Bank nd) factors such as lack of investment and proper training limited access to financing mechanisms agricultural insurance schemes and social protection and large fragmentation of lands are pushing down productivity rates in the agricultural sector As a result the rural populationsmdashwhich are highly dependent on agricultural and natural resourcesmdashface many vulnerabilities and shocks which have been aggravated by the long-standing conflicts in various countries (such as in Syria Iraq Yemen and Palestine) as well as by climate change Climate change alone is predicted to push an additional 100 million people into poverty worldwide if appropriate interventions including social protection are not put in place (Hallegatte et al 2016) NENA is one of the most affected regions by the consequences of climate change (Allieu and Ocampo 2019)

There is now a broad consensus regarding the importance of the extension of social protection coverage to people in rural areas through a combination of contributory and non-contributory schemes Within national social protection systems nationally-defined social protection floors (SPFs) are particularly important to guarantee at least a basic level of social security to all people and to preventmdashor at least alleviatemdashpoverty vulnerability and social exclusion throughout the life cycle covering children working-age and elderly people They are especially important for those at risk of sickness maternity unemployment and disability According to the International Labour Organization (ILO) Social Protection Floors Recommendation No 202 (2012) these guarantees should ensuremdashat a minimummdashthat over the life cycle all persons in need have access to essential health care and basic income security Universal access to comprehensive and adequate social protection systems including floors is an important tool to prevent and reduce poverty and inequality as reflected in human rights instruments international social security standards and SDG target 13 In 2020 the COVID-19 shock exacerbated vulnerabilities in labour markets and demonstrated the importance of ensuring access to health care services cash transfers credit and insurance schemes for agricultural workers in order to maintain food security prevent the spread of the virus and guarantee safety and health at work (ILO 2020a nd)

The first step to enhance SPFs is to assess the current situation in the respective countries This paper aims to contribute to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)rsquos work in supporting the expansion of social protection to reach all rural populations to achieve progressive universal coverage (FAO 2017) and building coherence between social protection and agriculture for a stronger impact on rural development (FAO 2017 2016)

NENA countries are currently writing a new chapter in the history of their social policies as governments that traditionally relied on public employment and consumer subsidies as the basis for their social contracts are shifting towards more comprehensive social protection policies (Loewe 2017 UNESCWA 2019 Jawad 2017 IMF 2017) While many countries are moving away from more regressive subsidies and more pro-poor social assistance schemes have been created and reformed (Machado et al 2018) most contributory schemesmdashor social insurancemdashhave still not been reformed to expand coverage for workers in sectors characterised by high informality and seasonality as is the case of rural workers 4 (Loewe 2017 Allieu and Ocampo 2019 ILO 2020b nd) Commonly agricultural workers are excluded from national labour protection laws and are not covered by such policies as minimum wages maximum hours of work or social insurance Most of them belong to the lsquomissing middlersquo neither qualifying for social assistance nor

4 This situation is changing in some countries Recent reforms in Tunisia provide a good example of the inclusion of rural women in the informal sector into social insurance schemes as mentioned later in this study

Working Paper8

having access to social insurance This leaves workers and families unprotected (ILO 2020a nd) However along with other instruments such as non-contributory social protection programmes social insurance is a necessary tool to promote sustainable development in rural zones given its role in ensuring access to health care providing medical benefits guaranteeing income security promoting gender equality preventing or at least alleviating poverty among elderly people and people with disabilities providing income protection in case of accidents in the workplace supporting families whose provider has passed away and facilitating transitions from the informal to the formal economy among many other aspects

Against this background this Working Paper focuses on the importance of social protection for rural development aiming to understand the overall situation in the NENA region with a special focus on social insurance schemes and programmes their coverage gaps and how they currently cover agricultural workers While the regionrsquos social assistance schemes have been analysed in previous comparative studies (eg Machado et al 2018) contributory schemes have been discussed less extensively even less so with a particular focus on their availability to cover agricultural workers It is critical to fill this research gap especially considering the role of social insurance schemes to mitigate risks and vulnerabilities throughout the life cycle and preventing impoverishment a key function for sustainable economic inclusion processes Moreover there is a clear need to improve their low coverage rates in the region including extending coverage to the notable lsquomissing middlersquo which has become more apparent than ever during the current COVID-19 health crisis To this end this paper discusses some of the main barriers to the expansion of social insurance schemes5 namely i) lack of demographic data and data on social protection coverage ii) exclusions in legal frameworks and programme design iii) financial restrictions iv) administrative and institutional challenges and v) participation and information challenges In addition examples of policies adopted by countries in the region to overcome these obstacles will be provided

This introduction provides the main concepts guiding this study which are presented in Box 1 Subsequently this paper is divided into three major sections The first offers background information establishing the importance of the agricultural sector for the national economies in NENA and highlighting the social divisions between the rural and urban population in terms of socioeconomic indicators

The second section summarises the state of social insurance schemes in the region The analysis is based on data provided by the Atlas of Social Protection Indicators of Resilience and Equity (ASPIRE) the International Social Security Association (ISSA) and the ILOrsquos World Social Protection Report

The third section summarises the challenges involved in expanding such schemes to rural areas and best practices that have been adopted across the region Twelve NENA countries (Algeria Libya Mauritania Morocco Tunisia Egypt Iran Iraq Jordan Lebanon Sudan and Syria) were considered in this section excluding the Gulf States and Iraq Gulf States are mostly higher-income countries with small rural populations and whose challenges are quite different from the rest of the region In the case of Iraq a lack of data prevented further analysis Finally the conclusion highlights the main points raised in each section

5 See also the ILOrsquos categorisation of barriers to extend coverage for workers in the informal economy ltExtending social security to workers in the informal economy Lessons from international experiencegt

BOX 1 Key concepts

1 Agricultural workers This working paper considers lsquoagricultural workersrsquo all persons working in economic activities across all sectors of agriculture including farming forestry and fisheries as defined by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA 2008) Therefore all activities involving the exploitation of vegetable and animal natural resources (including growing and harvesting crops raising and breeding animals harvesting timber and other plants animals or animal products from a farm or their natural habitats) are considered agricultural work

2 Informal employment Based on the ILOrsquos definition agreed on during the 17th International Conference of Labour Statisticians (ICLS) informal employment can be defined as ldquoall remunerative work (ie both self-employment and wage employment) that is not registered regulated or protected by existing legal or regulatory frameworks as well as non-remunerative work undertaken in an income-producing enterprise Informal workers do not have secure employment contracts workersrsquo benefits social protection or workersrsquo representationrdquo (ILO nd 2020d) Informality has a negative effect on the development of sustainable enterprises public revenues and the governmental scope of action (ILO 2018b)

3 Categories of employment the International Classification of Status in Employment 2018 (ICSE-18) defines different categories of employment according to the type of economic risk (employment for pay and employment for profit) and type of authority (independent and dependent workers) (ILO 2018a) The classification per type of authority is especially useful for the purposes of this paper Its subcategories are

31 Independent workers

311 Employers ldquopersons who operate their own business either on their own or in partnership with others in which they employ one or more persons on a regular basis (except themselves their partner or a contributing family worker)rdquo (ILO 2018a pp 10-11)

312 Independent workers without employees ldquooperate a business on their own or in partnership with others in which they do not employ any person other than themselves their partner or a contributing family worker on a regular basisrdquo (ILO 2018a p 11)

32 Dependent workers

321 Dependent contractors ldquoworkers employed for profit who are dependent on another entity that exercises explicit or implicit control over their activities and directly benefits from the work performed by them Their dependency may be of an operational nature through organization of the work andor of an economic nature such as through control over access to the market the price for the goods or services produced or access to raw materials or capital itemsrdquo (ILO 2018a p 11)

322 Employees ldquoworkers who do not hold controlling ownership over the economic unit in which they are employed They are typically paid for time worked but can also be paid for each task or piece of work done or for services provided including sales (by the piece or commission) They are not paid according to the terms of a commercial contract for the provision of goods or servicesrdquo (ILO 2018a p 11)

323 Contributing family workers ldquoworkers who assist a family member or a household member in the enterprise operated by the family or household member or in a job in which the assisted family or household member is an employee or dependent contractor Contributing family workers do not have the responsibility for the enterprise and do not make the most important decisions about it They do not receive regular payments such as wage or salary but can benefit from intra-household transfersrdquo (ILO 2018a p 12)

4 Social protection many different definitions of social protection co-exist and they usually include social assistance and social insurance and in some instances labour market policies and programmes According to the ILO ldquosocial protection or social security is a human right and is defined as the set of comprehensive policies and programmes designed to reduce and prevent poverty and vulnerability throughout the life cyclerdquo (ILO 2017b) For FAO (2017) social protection ldquocomprises a set of policies and programmes that addresses economic environmental and social vulnerabilities to food insecurity and poverty by protecting and promoting livelihoodsrdquo Social protection systems are usually understood to comprise a mix of two main components social insurance and social assistance Some organisations such as the World Bank also include labour market policies as a third component (World Bank nd)

41 Social Insurance schemes ldquoContributory social protection scheme that guarantees protection through an insurance mechanism based on (1) the prior payment of contributions ie before the occurrence of the insured contingency (2) risk-sharing or ldquopoolingrdquo and (3) the notion of a guaranteerdquo (ILO 2017a p 194)

Working Paper10

Insured workers make contributions that allow the establishment of a shared fund which covers the expenses related to defined contingencies (eg employment injury sickness pregnancy job loss etc) The difference between commercial insurance and social insurance is the fact that the latter is based on the principle of solidarity in risk-pooling and not in individually calculated risk premiums Some countries include non-contributory elements in their social insurance schemes financed by the State or by redistributing contributions within the scheme Finally it is important to note that some countries offer voluntary social insurance regimes or schemes targeting workers that are not covered by the compulsory social insurancemdashie informal workers Voluntary insurance usually does not include all benefits that compulsory social insurance beneficiaries are entitled to and given their low attractiveness (due to high contributions and few benefits) they typically have low coverage rates (ILSSA and ILO 2014 Huong 2019)

42 Social assistance programmesschemes ldquoA scheme that provides benefits to vulnerable groups of the population especially households living in poverty Most social assistance schemes are means-testedrdquo (ILO 2017a p 194) Social assistance programmes are usually non-contributory which means that beneficiaries or their employers do not need to make contributions in order to benefit from them Instruments used in social assistance schemes include cash transfers in-kind transfers subsidies school feeding programmes and many others

43 Labour market programmes can be divided into active labour market programmes (those that aim to encourage people to work increase the earnings capacity of workers and reduce the risk of unemploymentmdashfor example job training employment services employment stimulus) and passive labour market programmes (those that alleviate the financial needs of unemployed people without addressing employability directlymdashsuch as unemployment insurance and income support) (Bird and Silva 2020)

5 Regional divisions Different international organisations and United Nations (UN) agencies group countries in different ways The central territorial division used in this paper considers FAOrsquos definition of Near East and North Africa However as other sources of data use different terminologies they were also considered

51 Near East and North Africa (NENA) According to FAOrsquos definition the NENA region is composed of 19 countries and can be divided into three subregions North Africa (Maghreb)mdashAlgeria Libya Mauritania Morocco Tunisia Oriental Near East (Mashreq)mdashEgypt Iran Iraq Jordan Lebanon Sudan Syria and the Gulf States and Yemen (GCC + Yemen)mdashSaudi Arabia Kuwait Bahrain United Arab Emirates (UAE) Qatar Oman and Yemen NENA also includes the West Bank and Gaza Strip

52 Middle East and North Africa (MENA) According to the World Bankrsquos definition the MENA region includes all NENA counties and Djibouti Israel and Malta

53 Arab World According to the World Bankrsquos definition the Arab World includes all NENA counties except Iran and adds Comoros Djibouti and Somalia

6 Rural communities This term refers to communities living in rural areasoutside towns and cities It is necessary to recognise that it is a broad term which includes a great variety of political economic and social organisation across NENA and worldwide In this paper we focus on the most vulnerable rural communities

2 BACKGROUND URBAN-RURAL INEQUALITIES AND THE IMPORTANCE OF SOCIAL PROTECTION FOR RURAL AREAS

21 AGRICULTURAL SECTOR IN THE NENA REGION

The demographic dynamics in NENA are characterised by a fast growth rate The region is projected to reach 692 million people by 2050 This growth pattern can be expected to lead to increasingly rapid urbanisation which poses challenges to countries especially regarding the agricultural sector The share of the population in the region that will be living in rural areas is expected to fall just above 30 per cent whereas in 2020 the estimations are above 40 per cent (UNDESA 2018) Figure 1 illustrates this dynamic showing the rapid growth of the urban population and the decline of rural population across all three NENA subregions and more

sharply in Mashreq A direct consequence of this demographic shift will be the deepening of food dependency in the region which already needs to import 40 per cent of its agri-food demands (Moueumll and Schmitt 2018)6

FIGURE 1 Projected evolution of the rural and urban populations in the NENA region total and across three subregions 1950-2050

Maghreb ndash Rural

Maghreb ndash Urban

Mashreq ndash Rural

Mashreq ndash Urban

GCC+Y ndash Rural

GCC+Y ndash Urban

NENA ndash Rural

NENA ndash Urban

300000

200000

100000

400000

500000

Source UNDESA (2018 2018)

A larger youth population combined with increased rural exodus may also exacerbate a long-standing problem in the region youth unemployment7 Youth unemployment among women for example reaches 40 per cent in MENA countries far above the worldwide average of 13 per cent (Bird and Silva 2020) It is also particularly high in urban areas as well as in the industry and service sectors (FAO 2019b) Regardless the rural youth continue to migrate to urban regions Usually migration is seen as the only chance to improve their living conditions since if they were to stay in rural areas they would remain unemployed or work as unskilled agricultural labourers in precarious jobs Additionally conflicts and climate change also drive forced migration especially of the rural population contributing to the growth in inequality and food insecurity (Wenger and Abulfotuh 2019)

According to the ILO over 90 per cent of agricultural workers in low and middle-income countries are in informal employment (ILO 2018c) including wage workers in casual and

6 Bird and Silva (2020) also explore this in greater depth

7 The NENA region has one of the highest youth unemployment rates in the World as of 2018 youth unemployment in North Africa had reached 30 per cent compared to 17 per cent in Eastern Europe and 19 per cent in Latin America and the Caribbean and North South and Western Europe (FAO 2018)

Working Paper12

seasonal employment arrangements as well as a significant presence of self-employed farmers informal entrepreneurs and family members (Allieu and Ocampo 2019) Nearly half of the total agricultural labour force worldwide is composed of wage workers They are among the poorest and most vulnerable workers in most countries (FAO 2020b) often engaged in seasonal poor quality and low-productivity jobs with insecure work conditions (Allieu and Ocampo 2019) Regarding self-employed people more than 80 per cent of those in the agricultural sector are informal workers including the totality of contributing family workers (FAO 2020b)

The agricultural sector is still essential for employability in the NENA region As of 2017 more than 20 per cent of the labour force was employed in this sector according to the World Bankrsquos figure for the Arab States8 Figure 2 shows that the importance of agriculture to the regionrsquos labour market has been very slowly decreasing over the last three decades contracting 10 percentage points over 18 years

FIGURE 2 Employment in agriculture (as a share of total employment) Arab World 1991-2019

Source Authorrsquos elaboration based on The World Bank DataBank Employment in agriculture ( of total employment) (modelled ILO estimate)

Despite the sectorrsquos importance to the labour market agricultural activities only represent 5 per cent of the regional GDP in the Arab World (as of 2017) Figure 3 shows that during the 1980s the relevance of the sector as a share of GDP grew reaching its highest levels during the early 1990s However over the past decade the share has remained stable at just 5 per cent of the regional GDP Figure 4 correlates the participation of the agricultural sector to both the labour market and GDP showing clear differences across countries In the Gulf area for example agriculture represents a small share of employment while in Mauritania it represents more than half of total employment

8 The World Bank definition of ldquoArab Statesrdquo is closest to the definition of NENA region adopted in this paper Except for Iran the Arab Statesrsquo average includes all other 18 countries in NENA in addition to Somalia Comoros Djibouti and Palestine

FIGURE 3 Agriculture forestry and fishing value added (as a percentage of GDP) Arab World 1975-201719

Source Authorrsquos elaboration based on The World Bank DataBank Agriculture forestry and fishing value added ( of GDP)

FIGURE 4 Employment in agriculture (as a share of total employment) and value added (as a share of GDP) of the agricultural sector per country as of 2017

00 100 200 300 400 500 600

Mauritania

Morocco

Arab World

Lebanon

Tunisia

Algeria

Saudi Arabia

Jordan

Kuwait

Bahrain

Agriculture forestry and fishing value added ( of GDP) Employment in agriculture ( of total employment)

Source Authorrsquos elaboration based on World Bank ( nd) DataBank - Agriculture forestry and fishing value added ( of GDP) and Agriculture forestry and fishing value added ( of GDP)

Working Paper14

It is important to highlight the low productivity of the agricultural sector in most countries In Yemen for example in 2017 over 29 per cent of the working population produced only 4 per cent of the national GDP Only in Algeria and Jordan does the agricultural sectorrsquos share of GDP exceed participation in the labour market The low productivity of labour in agriculture correlates with the structural changes that have been taking place in the region which has been historically marked by a lack of public policies towards agriculture transformation9 (FAO 2019b) A global comparison of the value of gross production per hectare of agricultural land indicates that the MENA region is far below global averages in any period of analysis It is one of the regions with the lowest agricultural productivity in the world only above sub-Saharan Africa in absolute terms10 It is also concerning that the region has ranked at the bottom in terms of agricultural productivity growth since the 1980s11 compared to other developing regions which indicates a relative deterioration of performance (OECD and FAO 2018)

Despite its low productivity the agricultural sector is essential for livelihoods and poverty reduction in rural communities especially considering that more than 80 per cent of agricultural production in the NENA region consists of small-scale family farmers (Serraj and Pingali 2018a) Also the analysis of the contribution of agricultural activities to GDP tends to be limited leading policymakers to underestimate the importance of rural areas to the economy A review focused only on GDP is misleading as it ignores the potential of agricultural development in poverty alleviation (FAO 2019b) Cross-country estimations indicate that agricultural development is at least twice as effective in reducing poverty when compared to other economic sectors (World Bank 2007) This is because poor people participate more in the growth of the agricultural sector resulting in a much larger elasticity of overall poverty to agricultural GDP than to non-agricultural GDP (Christiaensen Demery and Kuumlhl 2006) In addition agricultural development is often associated with a relative decrease in food prices which leads to positive impacts on real wages and labour productivity in the overall economy (FAO 2011)

22 THE URBAN-RURAL DIVISION IN THE NENA REGION

Directly related to the low productivity of agriculture in the NENA region a primary indicator of the inequality and poverty in rural areas is the difference between the average monthly earnings of agricultural workers compared to the national average considering all economic activities Although data is only available for a limited list of countries (see Table 2) in all of them the agricultural sector had lower averages when compared to the overall averages In the UAE for example the mean income of workers in the agricultural sector is more than three times smaller than the overall average It is also important to note that the agricultural

9 According to FAOrsquos definition agriculture transformation consists in the shift from traditional farming to commercial and diversified production systems Agriculture transformation is the result of policy choices depending largely on government investments in infrastructure (eg roads railways and storage facilities) agricultural research and education and enforcing standards for food safety quality and processing (FAO 2019b)

10 Considering values for 2001-2014 the value of gross production per hectare of agricultural land in the MENA region was USD226000 while the world average is USD449000 The value observed in the MENA region is only higher than those in sub-Saharan Africa (USD146000) (OECD and FAO 2018)

11 Considering the value of gross production per hectare of agricultural land

sector is largely composed of temporary seasonal and migrant workers who often receive lower wages and face higher risks and vulnerabilities (ILO nd 2020a)

TABLE 1 Mean nominal monthly earnings of employees by economic activity (in 2017 USD PPP)12

Country All economic activities Agriculture forestry and fishing

UAE 30173 6918

Egypt 5923 5868

Qatar 39282 1835

Saudi Arabia 38291 13498

Yemen 5418 3351

Source Authorrsquos elaboration based on ILO StatmdashMean nominal monthly earnings of employees by sex and economic activity (accessed 21 June 2020)

Partially due to lower earnings rural areas often have higher income poverty rates than urban areas In some countries (such as Egypt Iraq Mauritania Sudan and Yemen) they are more than twice as high (see Figure 5) Notwithstanding access to services and coverage of social protection schemes are usually lower in rural areas Moreover in most countries in the NENA region access to education health housing and other public services is between 3 and 20 times lower in rural zones (FAO 2019b) In short rural areas are commonly characterised by high dependence on agriculture and natural resources high levels of informality in employment arrangements low productivity rates and high prevalence of poverty

FIGURE 5 Urban and rural poverty headcount rates evaluated at the national poverty line selected NENA countries

323 306

369401

153 148 139

265308

Algeria(2011)

Egypt(2010)

Iraq(2012)

Jordan(2010)

Mauritania(2008)

Morocco(2007)

Sudan(2009)

Syria(2007)

Yemen(2005)

Rural Poverty Headcount () Urban Poverty Headcount ()

Source Authorrsquos elaboration based on FAO (2019b) and World Bank data

12 Purchasing power parity

Working Paper16

23 WHY IS SOCIAL PROTECTION IMPORTANT FOR RURAL AREAS

Poor rural households that mostly rely on agriculture as a source of income are often affected by a set of factors that hamper their ability to diversify livelihoods In addition to the lifecycle risks related to ageing pregnancy disability and gender rural poor people especially women are faced with added and specific vulnerabilities and risks which also contribute to hinder pathways to their sustained economic inclusion (summarised in Table 2) A combination of contributory and non-contributory schemes can protect agricultural workers and their families from these risks This section aims to understand the role of social protection in addressing risks and vulnerabilities in rural communities paying special attention to social insurance policies This focus aims to contribute to filling a gap in the literaturemdashmany studies have been carried out on the importance of social assistance to rural communities but there are few comparative studies that specifically assess social insurance for agricultural workers and particularly in the NENA region

TABLE 2 Main risks and vulnerabilities faced by rural communitiesRisks Description

Social Rural communities are often politically and socially excluded which reinforces their vulnerabilities to a range of factors including lack of or poor access to public services (eg education and health care) difficulties in accessing formal credit lack of land rights poor infrastructure (such as roads and electricity) exposure to labour abuse and the lack of vital statistics or data Gender discrimination and child labour are usually more widespread in marginalised rural communities

Health Rural and poor areas are generally characterised by elevated levels of risk to health disease and environmental hazards Furthermore work in the agricultural sectors is highly hazardous arduous and workers are exposed to a wide range of risks Rural populations are also exposed to health risks at the group or community level (epidemics) and often suffer from a lack of good quality or even functional health care services Events related to giving birth may present additional risks for women especially in the absence of health services maternity benefits or employment protection

Economic Low levels of agricultural productivity limited access to credit markets high unemployment rates weak labour market arrangements and high level of informal casual and seasonal employment arrangements make rural areas that are dependent on agriculture deeply vulnerable to economic risks

Natural and environmental

Events such as floods droughts pollution and land degradation as well as climatic changes have significant impacts on crop and livestock production fisheries and aquaculture and forestry Moreover seasonality is a significant contributor to hunger and undernutrition These risks affect the incomes of agricultural workers in several ways

Source Authorrsquos elaboration based on Allieu and Ocampo (2019)

While rural communities are not homogeneous across the NENA region and there are many differences between and within countries many of the risks faced by agricultural workers are common Economic risks such as the low levels of agricultural productivity (discussed in the previous section) and inflation are aggravated by shocks such as the outbreak of the novel coronavirus pandemic in 2020 One of the many consequences of the pandemic (see Box 2) is that it prevents rural producers from accessing marketsmdashone of their primary sources of income Moreover rural communities in the NENA region are among the most vulnerable populations to climate changes worldwide (Allieu and Ocampo 2019) Desertification and losses caused by natural events are common and water shortage is already a problem faced in most countries which tends to exacerbate other issues and generate more political instability13 Additionally rural

13 In Egypt for example climate change could reduce rice production by 11 per cent and soybeans by 28 per cent by 2050 (FAO 2011) and an ongoing dispute over the use of Nile water for the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam is already causing great animosity between Egypt Ethiopia and Sudan

populations are disproportionately affected by longstanding conflicts which destroy livelihoods and cause food insecurity It is estimated that up to 60 per cent of the total population of countries affected by these conflicts and crises live in rural areas (IFPRI 2020)

Social protection is a fundamental policy instrument in response to these challenges (see Box 1 for definitions on social protection) especially for those in situations of vulnerability Social protection approaches that take into consideration the specific livelihoods and associated risks and vulnerabilities faced by rural households as well as the challenges in addressing them are needed to help rural populations invest in productive activities and human resources in addition to coping with shocks and declining productivity (FAO 2018)

Worldwide social protection policies have the potential to provide immediate assistance to 736 million people living in extreme poverty and more than 820 million living with hunger (FAO 2019a) Both non-contributory and social insurance programmes have crucial roles in providing social protection to rural communities while non-contributory schemesmdashincluding social assistancemdashhave the potential to provide a basic level of income security access to essential health care ensure food security and small-scale livelihood activity Social insurance is crucial to providing higher levels of protection enabling rural populations to better manage risks and prevent impoverishment (FAO 2019a)

Another potential of social protection is its effectiveness in mitigating preventing and responding to crises and conflicts This is especially important in the NENA region as long-standing conflicts in Syria Iraq Yemen and Palestine exacerbate the vulnerability of the population including by forcing displacements Through its preventive role social protection enhances risk management capacity and early responsiveness strengthens the resilience of households and supports the creation of assets and the construction of infrastructure at the community level (for example irrigation systems and storage spaces) In conflict contexts non-contributory social assistance programmes that target rural areas help ensure food security reduce the risks of impoverishment prevent forced displacement and facilitate safer conditions for migration14 (IFPRI 2020) In post-conflict settings they are crucial in supporting rural returnees reviving local economies and contributing to sustainable peace (FAO 2018)

Social protection policies combined with comprehensive legislation and active labour market policies also have the potential to facilitate the transition to formality which is a crucial issue for rural workers The absence of social protection favours informality by leading many people to work in insecure conditions to escape poverty Experiences from countries across the world have shown that extending social protection to workers in the informal economymdashie guaranteeing access to health care education and income security results in positive effects on human capital and productivity which in turn enhance formal employment domestic economic performance and fiscal space in the long-run (ILO 2015 Islam and Lapeyre 2020)

When social protection policies are integrated into broader rural development strategies they are likely to lead to more positive outcomes FAOrsquos country-level impact evaluations

14 In Yemen studies indicate that the Cash Transfers for Nutrition Programme had positive impacts in counteracting food insecurity and intermediate outcomes in the country In Mauritania cash transfer programmes also improved the incomes of beneficiaries and had positive impacts reducing land sales child labour and begging practices during the crisis (IFPRI 2020)

Working Paper18

show that besides being a critical strategy for poverty reduction and inclusive growth the strengthened linkages between social protection and agricultural development can help boost economic growth promote food and nutrition security enhance the productivity of families and build the resilience of poor rural families Integrated social interventions that lift households out of poverty have the potential to increase participation in social insurance schemes and increase public revenues which also helps finance interventions to combat poverty and reduce inequalities (FAO nd Serraj and Pingali 2018b)15 Table 3 summarises some of the ways through which social protection can benefit people living in rural areas (for other evidence-based effects of social protection see FAO nd and FAO 2019a)

TABLE 3 Potentialities of social protection in rural areas From protection to inclusion Enhancing resilience Empowering women Making migration

a choice

1 Social protection combined with sector-specific policies gives small-scale producers more capacity to move from subsistence livelihoods to higher levels of sustainable productivity by increasing their capacity to cope with shocks and risks and invest in new agricultural technologies

2 Social protection enhances food and nutrition security by removing financial and social barriers

3 Home grown school feeding programmes improve the livelihoods of small-scale farmers local communities and childrenrsquos education

1 During shocks social protection has the potential to protect peoplersquos basic welfare and take on some of the humanitarian caseloads

2 Before and after the crisis social protection can boost the capacity of smallholder producers to prepare for further difficulties as well as address the structural causes of chronic poverty and vulnerability

3 Social protection can alleviate the impact of climate change on rural producers and address the barriers that prevent compliance with natural resource management measures (eg closed seasons for fisheries)

4 Cash plus approaches can address immediate needs as well as resume or upscale household food production They can also be used to attain specific goals such as promoting nutrition-sensitive agriculture climate-smart agriculture and the uptake of disaster risk management practices

1 Gender-sensitive social protection has the potential to empower women and reduce inequalities in rural areas as women represent about 45 per cent of the agricultural labour force but have less access to social protection services productive resources credit and agricultural extension systems

2 Gender-sensitive social protection boosts positive impacts on food security nutrition and economic productivity

3 Cash transfers and public work programmes can have a significant impact on rural womenrsquos economic empowerment which has a transformative role in the communities marketplace and households

1 Social protection can facilitate safe displacement by offering financial support to travel as well as preventing forced displacement due to impoverished conditions

2 Social protection services are pivotal in meeting the needs of vulnerable migrants in rural areas (especially internally displaced persons and refugees) increasing the opportunities for migrants to contribute to economic development support host communities and help social and economic integration

Source Authorrsquos elaboration based on FAO (2019a)

International organisations such as FAO advocate promoting social protection in rural areas In lsquoSocial Protection Framework promoting rural development for allrsquo FAO (2017) highlights the critical role of social protection in improving food security and nutrition agriculture development resilience building and combating rural poverty The organisation

15 In Brazil for example schemes such as the Incentive Programme for Rural Productive Activities and the Green Grant provide evidence of the effectiveness of integrated strategies in lifting rural families out of poverty (WWP 2016 2017a 2017b Government of Brazil 2019)

also considers the four social protection functions based on Devereux and Sabates-Wheeler (2004)16 including the role of social insurance as a preventive instrument to avoid deprivation mitigate the impact of adverse shocks and prevent harmful risk-coping strategies Figure 6 summarises FAOrsquos social protection framework

FIGURE 6 FAOrsquos social protection framework

Source FAO (2017)

In particular social insurance schemes allow vulnerable people living in rural areas to manage the risks of agricultural activities as well as offering coping mechanisms to deal with risks and crisis across the life cycle (FAO 2019a Tirivayi Knowles and Davis 2013) Social insurance provides protection against income loss over fixed periods of time (eg unemployment pregnancy work accident illness) and on a long-term basis (eg old age pensions) Unlike social assistance social insurance schemes are financed by direct contributions from employers and workers (and sometimes government subsidies) which allows beneficiaries to receive higher benefits and contributes to the systemsrsquo fiscal sustainability Also as social insurance schemes provide earnings-related benefits they provide incentives for workers to make larger contributions in order to receive proportionally higher benefits which is not the case with social assistance schemes Moreover the mixed and collective financing of social insurance schemes is based on the principles of solidarity and risk pooling allowing everybody to be treated as an equal risk-bearer and to combat and prevent poverty through redistributive features (Borowski and Kingson 2019) Finally social insurance creates decent and secure employment which represents a compelling appeal to the NENA region considering the demographic dynamics and high urban youth unemployment rates

16 Protective=relieve conditions of poverty and deprivation (targeted sources and services) Preventive=avert conditions of poverty and deprivation (contributory schemes) Promotional=enhance real incomes and capabilities (livelihood enhancing programmes) Transformative=address concerns of social equity and exclusion (inclusive regulatory frameworks) (based on Devereux and Sabates-Wheeler 2004)

Working Paper20

Therefore social insurance programmes are a major social protection component in enhancing the resilience of households against shocks and crises The importance of social insurance for rural communities is increasing even further in light of the effects of climate change on those that rely on natural resources and the increased incidence of major crises affecting sale chains (such as for example COVID-19 see Box 2) However workers in the agricultural sector in many countries still suffer from limited access to those benefits The lack of access to maternity health care and unemployment benefits for example causes loss of working days income reduction and increased health care costs (FAO 2015)

BOX 2 COVID-19rsquos consequences to informal workers and policy responses

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic is an unprecedented health economic and labour market shock threatening employment and the incomes of millions of workers Without the necessary social protection interventions an additional 83 million people in the MENA region could fall into poverty (UNESCWA 2020a) In rural areas informal workers (both self-employed and wage workers) in the agricultural sector are among the most vulnerable groups (FAO 2020b) With no access to social insurance protection schemes they are deprived of preventive mechanisms to cope with shocks and vulnerabilities exacerbated by the new health emergency and are more likely to resort to negative coping strategies (FAO 2020b) The pandemicrsquos effects on rural communities has consequences for all of society as it has the potential to affect national food security and broader food systems (FAO 2020a ILO 2020d 2020a 2020b 2020c)

To address the crisis many countries in the NENA region have adopted national response plans that include social protection measures and in some cases also cover informal workers A mapping of government and humanitarian responses carried out by the Issue-Based Coalition on Social Protection (IBC-SP) identified six countries (Egypt Jordan Morocco Syria Tunisia Palestine) that adopted cash-transfer programmes explicitly targeting informal and daily wage workers In Egypt the Government announced a new monthly payment to women community leaders in rural areas Alleviating marginalisation issues Tunisia launched mobile units to reach distant rural areas that would otherwise face difficulties in accessing the new benefits (IBC-SP 2020) However in some cases traditionally excluded groups such as informal workers and migrants continue to be shut out from national social protection schemes and programmes Challenges also include effectively and timely reaching those not previously registered in social assistance and insurance schemes (mainly informal workers) (IBC-SP 2020)

3 TAKING STOCK OF CONTRIBUTORY SCHEMES IN NENA

The right to social protection including access to social insurance is a human right enshrined in international treaties such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) Except for Saudi Arabia and the UAE all other 17 countries in the NENA region have ratified the ICESCR There are also other international legal instruments such as the ILOrsquos Conventions and Recommendations17 which enshrine the right to social protection for all establishing concrete obligations and guidelines to expand national social protection systems Recommendations include R202 which provides guidance for States to establish SPFs and R204 which stipulates the need for universal social protection Legally binding conventions such as C102 set minimum standards for social security while C184 (Article 21) reinforces that workers in the agricultural sector must be covered by social insurance schemes at least equivalent to those enjoyed by workers in other sectors including mechanisms to protect them against injury disease invalidity and work-related health risks The C188 is also instrumental for improving access to social insurance schemes in fisheries

17 Conventions (or Protocols) are legally binding treaties that need to be ratified by member States Recommendation are non-binding guidelines (ILO nd)

Annex 1 lists some of the main Conventions and Recommendations establishing social security standards including those specifically designed to protect agricultural workers

Traditionally the provision of social protection in the NENA region has included a combination of contributory schemes for those in formal employment (which often means public servants mostly in urban areas) and universal food and fuel subsidies There is a growing consensus that subsidies do not favour the poorest people and ongoing reforms are enabling more targeted assistance aiming to create pro-poor social protection policies18 This context of social policy reform provides a window of opportunity to expand SPFs and guarantee social protection coverage to traditionally excluded groups such as agricultural workers and people living in rural areas

31 OVERVIEW OF SOCIAL PROTECTION SYSTEMSmdashA FOCUS ON SOCIAL INSURANCE

Social protection coverage of agricultural workers is often lacking all over the world Yet when it comes to the analyses of effective social protection coverage19 for rural populations in the NENA region the lack of data is a major concern preventing further evaluations The ILO World Social Protection database provides data on effective coverage for some countries but disaggregated data between rural and urban populations is not available Considering the overall population Figure 7 shows that effective social protection coverage is limited in the countries where data is available20 Taking into account experiences in other regions the characteristics of agricultural workers in the NENA region (high informality seasonality etc) and the additional barriers they face to enrol in social protection it is possible to infer that coverage rates for rural families is even more limited as many belong to the lsquomissing-middlersquo neither covered by social assistance nor by social insurance

The World Bankrsquos ASPIRE database is another major source of data on social protection However it also has some limitations such as only providing information about programmes that are included in national household surveys which also affects the level of disaggregation provided Among the analysed countries the available disaggregated data on social insurance schemes for Mauritania (2008) Egypt (2008) and Jordan (2010)21 reveal the inequalities between rural and urban populations Table 4 displays social insurance and social assistance schemes22 Regarding the social insurance benefits it shows that in all countries the average transfer amount per capita (USD PPP per day) received by beneficiaries in urban areas was substantially higher than by rural beneficiaries likely due to higher average wages in urban settings compared to rural communities Social insurance schemes had a high impact on the reduction of poverty headcount in the poorest quintile across all countries however with the exception of Jordan

18 For more about the social reforms see UNESCWA (2019) Loewe (2017) Jawad (2017) and IMF (2017) For more about non-contributory programmes see Machado et al (2018)

19 Legal or statutory coverage means that individuals andor families are entitled to specific benefits provided by existing laws In contrast effective coverage is measured in terms of those who effectively benefit from the scheme (Bonnet and Tessier 2014)

20 See also Annex 3 for an overview of the effective coverage of each scheme considering both social insurance and social assistance (if data is available) provisions based on ILO data used in the World Social Protection Report

21 ASPIRE also provides data for Syria (2003) and Yemen (2005) Yet these data were not considered for this Working Paper as both countries are going through humanitarian emergencies which implies very different scenarios compared to the reference years

22 In ASPIRE ldquoAll social insurancerdquo considers old age disability survivor pensions occupational injury benefits paid sick leave benefits health and maternitypaternity benefits ldquoAll social assistancerdquo considers unconditional cash transfers conditional cash transfers non-contributory social pensions food and in-kind transfers school feeding public works workfare and direct job creation programmes free waivers and subsidies and other social assistance (World Bank nd)

Working Paper22

the simulated change (as a percentage) on poverty headcount due to social insurance programmes was significatively higher in urban contexts23 The cases of Egypt and Jordan also reveal that social insurance schemes provided much higher benefits and had larger impacts on the reduction of poverty headcount than social assistance schemes for both rural and urban populations

FIGURE 7 Proportion of the population covered by social protection systems (as a percentage)

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Egypt (2016)

Iran (2019)

Tunsia (2017)

Iran (2019)

Jordan (2010)

Iran (2019)

Egypt (2016)

Algeria (2016)

Bahrain (2011)

Iran (2019)

Jordan (2010)

Qatar (2016)

Sudan (2017)

Tunisia (2017)

Yemen (2011)

Algeria (2016)

Iran (2019)

Qatar (2016)

Sudan (2017)

Tunisia (2017)

Iran (2019)Unemployed receiving Uneployment benefits

Populaon covered by at least one SP

Persons above rerement age receiving a pension

Mother receivingmaternity benefits

Employed covered inthe event of work injury

Childrenhouseholdsreceiving childfamily cash

Vulnerable personcovered by SA

PwD collecng disability SP benefits

Note Countries for which only data from before 2010 were available were not considered

Source Author`s elaboration based on ILO (nd)

23 The poverty headcount reduction indicator is defined by ASPIRE as ldquothe percentage of the population below the poverty line and it is measured assuming the absence of the programs (pre-transfer welfare distribution) Specifically poverty headcount reduction is computed as (poverty headcount pre transfer- poverty headcount post transfer)poverty headcount pretransfer The indicator is estimated for the entire population and by program type Programs are aggregated into social assistance social insurance and labor market according to ASPIRE classificationrdquo (WB nd)

TABLE 4 Social insurance indicators rural and urban areas

Indicators Social protection type Mauritania

(2008)Egypt (2008)

Jordan (2010)

Average per capita transfer (daily USD PPP)

SIRural 15 21 44

Urban 22 47 64

SARural 19 02 06

Urban 31 03 05

Poverty Headcount reduction ()mdash 1st quintile

SIRural 147 281 364

Urban 265 734 262

SARural 158 52 102

Urban 409 79 104

Note SI=Social insurance SA=Social assistance

Source Authorrsquos elaboration based on ASPIRE Database

The following analysis is based on information provided by the ISSA (nd) which provides further details on the social insurance schemes available in each country24 This paper analyses the presence or absence of social insurance benefits in each country However due to lack of data among other issues comprehensiveness and level of coverage are not discussed in depth and should be a topic for further research The data confirm that most of the insurance schemes cover formal workers with retirement pensions compensations for work-related injuries and disabilities and sickness and maternity benefits Unemployment insurance schemes and family allowances provided through contributory systems were less common Annex 2 provides information about each component and the type of social protection scheme (social assistance social insurance employer-liability or universal) through which they are provided as well as about exclusions of self-employed workers

Significant gaps remain regarding the coverage of workers in the agricultural sector Countries such as Jordan Lebanon Sudan Tunisia and Yemen explicitly exclude certain agricultural workers from some or all contributory schemes in most cases because these workers are excluded from the application of the countriesrsquo Labour Law There are also countries (Algeria Egypt Jordan Lebanon Sudan Syria Tunisia and Yemen) that exclude non-standard forms of employment such as temporary seasonal and casual employment from some or all schemes which represent most instances of employment in the agricultural sector (for example Egypt exclude casual and self-employed workers from unemployment work injury sickness and maternity benefits) Yemen Syria and Lebanon also exclude certain migrant workers keeping in mind that they often represent a large share of workers in agriculture Finally except for Libya all other countries have legal barriers in place which exclude self-employed workers from at least one social insurance scheme excluding self-employed farmers own-account workers and producersrsquo cooperatives

24 The ISSA provides concise outlines of social security systems in over 180 countries worldwide The analysis in this Working Paper is based on country profiles which ldquocover national social security programmes established by statute that insure individuals against interruption or loss of earnings andor costs resulting from old age disability or death sickness and maternity or paternity work injury or occupational disease unemployment and child raising and household subsistencerdquo (ISSA nd) The information in country profiles is periodically updated according to the legislative changes in each country analysed

Working Paper24

In the following subsection exclusionary legal mechanisms affecting different types of workers in the agricultural sector are analysed for each type of scheme or contingency (see also Annex 2) However it is important to note that although the analysis focuses on legal coverage legal provisions are not always implemented in practice especially (but not exclusively) in countries undergoing conflict Even if inclusive legal frameworks exist compliance can be poor regarding non-standard forms of employments due to factors such as the limited capacity for labour and social security inspection weak systems and incentives limited opportunities for information-sharing and cross-referencing across public institutions

a) Old-age disability and survivorsrsquo insurance

All analysed countries have old age disability and survivorsrsquo insurance schemes which are mainly financed by contributions from workers and (in case of wage workers) employers25 Considering the legal frameworks in most countries these social insurance schemes are also available to self-employed workers In Lebanon Mauritania Morocco and Yemen self-employed workers are excluded from old-age disability and survivorsrsquo insurance benefits However in the countries that do allow self-employed workers to contribute they end up paying a higher share of their income for social insurance than salaried employees such as in Jordan where self-employed workers must pay 175 per cent of gross monthly earnings while employees pay 65 per cent and employers pay the remaining 11 per cent of their gross monthly payroll (see also Annex 4)

Four countries establish legal coverage for specific groups of workers in the agricultural sector Algeria covers specific categories of fishers and self-employed persons while Iran (voluntary coverage) and Tunisia have created special systems to cover agricultural workers In Egypt there is a special system for casual workers and self-employed persons

Five other countries have systems that partially cover workers in the agricultural sector For example in Lebanon agricultural employees outside agricultural enterprises26 citizens of countries without reciprocal agreements with Lebanon seasonal casual and the self-employed have no access to social insurance Similar cases include Mauritania Morocco Sudan and Syria

Two countries explicitly adopt legal dispositions that exclude certain categories of workers This is the case for Jordan27 where casual employees cannot access the system and Yemen which excludes self-employed persons casual workers agricultural workers seafarers and fishers

Libya only specifies coverage for self-employed workers but does not mention other categories related to the agricultural sector

25 In Lebanon the benefits are financed exclusively by employers which contribute with a value of 85 per cent of the monthly payroll In general self-employed workers pay higher contributions (as both workers and employers)

26 Lebanonrsquos legislative framework does not define what is considered an lsquoagricultural enterprisersquo

27 Due to the lack of legislation regulating employment in the agricultural sector in Jordan the requirements for agricultural workers to contribute to social insurance are ambiguous However the following categories are explicitly included in mandatory coverage (i) managers in registered enterprises (ii) agronomists veterinarians agricultural workers in public institutions technical workers on agricultural machinery and in nurseries hatcheries fish and beekeeping farms Recently a new law presented new options for coverage of agricultural workers but did not change the requirements for coverage (ILO Arab States personal communication 2020)

b) Sickness and maternity insurance

In general almost all countries assessed implement maternity sickness and medical benefits2829 Lebanon is the most worrying case as it is the only country that according to ISSA data has not implemented statutory maternity cash benefits or sickness cash benefits

Social insurance schemes are prevalent but it is a matter of concern that several benefits depend on employerrsquos liability In addition to inherently excluding self-employed workers benefits offered as employerrsquos liability programmes have a limited level of compensation and rarely cover risks associated with long-term compensations They also increase risks of non-compliance and undermine the principle of solidarity (ILO 2010) Moreover employerrsquos liability maternity benefits as in the cases of Libya Sudan Syria and Yemen can generate gender barriers by creating perverse incentives to employers to discriminate against women during recruitment (Allieu and Ocampo 2019 Bilo and Tebaldi 2020) However not even social insurance coverage is available to self-employed workers in several countries as is the case of maternity and sickness benefits in Algeria Egypt and Iran for example

Only Tunisia provides legal coverage to some categories of workers related to the agricultural sector such as fishers and self-employed persons Morocco and Lebanon provide partial coverage Morocco excludes self-employed workers but covers private-sector employees and apprentices in the agricultural sector employees in cooperatives and certain categories of fishers Lebanon excludes temporary agricultural employees and citizens of countries without reciprocal agreements but covers certain other categories of agricultural employees and provides voluntary coverage to self-employed workers In Iran rural workers insured by the Rural Social Insurance Fund only have access to health care services and some people in eligible rural areas (as defined by geographical targeting) can access medical benefits through a social assistance scheme Egypt Jordan Sudan and Yemen have adopted legal dispositions that exclude certain categories of workers related to the agricultural sector Algeria Libya Mauritania and Syria30 only specify the coverage status of self-employed workers with no mention to employees in the agricultural sector

c) Work injury protection

Work injury insurance exists to protect workers who have suffered work injuries or occupational diseases Importantly all twelve countries analysed offer permanent disability benefits and survival pensions Sudan and Yemen are the only countries with no cash benefits to protect workers who have been temporarily incapacitated and no death or funeral grants to help families of deceased beneficiaries Half the countries (Iran Jordan Libya Morocco Sudan

28 Medical benefits are thus defined ldquomedical services usually include at least general practitioner care some hospitalization and essential drugs Services of specialists surgery maternity care some dental care a wider range of medicine and certain appliances are commonly added Transportation of patients and home-nursing services may be includedrdquo (SSA and ISSA 2019 p10)

29 Medical benefits are defined as ldquoMedical services usually include at least general practitioner care some hospitalization and essential drugs Services of specialists surgery maternity care some dental care a wider range of medicine and certain appliances are commonly added Transportation of patients and home-nursing services may be includedrdquo (SSA and ISSA 2019 p10)

30 Syria and Yemen have universal legal coverage for medical benefits However due to the humanitarian situation that both countries are going through coverage is limited in practice

Working Paper26

and Tunisia) allow self-employed workers access to work injury insurance in Iran Jordan and Tunisia self-employed workers have voluntary coverage Nevertheless only a few countries explicitly specify coverage to agricultural sector workers Naturally insurance should be considered essential to this sector

Iran and Tunisia offer work injury schemes to some categories of employees related to the agricultural sector without explicitly excluding others However insurance systems in Mauritania and Syria are less comprehensive including some groups but excluding others In Syria for example agricultural employees are covered whereas the self-employed31 family workers and certain migrant workers are not Egypt explicitly adopts legal dispositions excluding casual workers and Sudan excludes farmers and fishers Lebanon Morocco32 Algeria and Yemen only specify the coverage status of self-employed workers with no specific mention to agricultural sector workers

d) Unemployment insurance

Unemployment insurance is rare in the NENA region only half of the analysed countries (Algeria Egypt Iran Jordan Morocco and Tunisia) have unemployment insurance schemes for employees dismissed without cause33 In all cases the benefit is linked to the social insurance systems except for Tunisia where the benefit is considered part of the social assistance system and paid by the National Social Security Fund Besides not covering self-employed workers most systems only cover workers with permanent contracts a minority in the agricultural sector

Algeria is an interesting case in addition to the regular unemployment insurance the country also provides a weather-related unemployment benefit that covers workers employed in public works programmes construction and hydraulics industries in case of work stoppages due to poor weather conditions Despite the enormous potential of this benefit to address a significant vulnerability of rural workers (ie natural and environmental risks) it is not available for that group

Only two countries explicitly provide legal coverage for agricultural workers In Iran unemployment benefits are offered to those insured by the Rural Social Insurance Fund In Morocco salaried employees and apprentices in agricultural sector as well as employees of cooperatives and specific categories of fishers are covered On the other hand three countries exclude common non-standard forms of employment in the agricultural sector Jordan excludes casual workers and Egypt also excludes temporary and seasonal workers Algeria excludes all workers who lack a permanent contract In Tunisia agricultural employees are not covered

31 As per the initial Social Insurance Law No92 of 1959 self-employed workers are excluded from coverage However coverage could be extended to self-employed workers to benefit from certain social insurance benefits or from all benefits upon issuance of regulation and based on the decision of the Minister of Labour and Social Affairs in consultation with the Board of Directors of the institution (ILO Arab States personal communication 2020)

32 In Lebanon and Morocco work injury protection is offered as an employerrsquos liability scheme In Morocco it is offered as an ldquoemployerrsquos liability system through private carriersrdquo Self-employed workers can be insured by paying the total cost of insurance premiums to a private carrier

33 Despite not offering unemployment insurance Libya Mauritania and Sudan establish a severance payment to dismissed employees

e) Family and child allowances

Family allowances are cash transfers provided to families generally varying according to the number of dependent children in the household34 Five countries (Algeria Iran Lebanon Mauritania Morocco and Tunisia)35 have family allowances as part of their national social insurance schemes Yet none is available to self-employed workers

Only two countries explicitly refer to the coverage of agricultural employees Morocco (which includes agricultural employees employees of cooperatives and specific categories of fishers) and Tunisia (temporary workers fishers members of agricultural cooperatives and employees of farms with at least 30 workers are included)

32 AGRICULTURAL INSURANCE

Agricultural insurance is also an important tool to protect agricultural producers Agricultural insurance is not usually considered a type of social insurance (and is not covered in the ISSA database) However it provides an important source of protection for agricultural producers

Agricultural insurance schemes can be defined as instruments designed to help farmers and rural communities cope with risks involving crop failures livestock issues and in some cases (disaster insurance) natural disasters Most of the schemes protect insured agricultural producers against lossdamage of crops or livestock by providing payments to affected farmers The payments usually do not compensate farmers for the entire crop losses but rather follow an index-based value (MiN nd) Countries such as the United States India Brazil and China subsidise agricultural insurance using it as a tool to manage risks correct market failures and achieve social and political goals such as increasing food production and improving coverage by extending insurance access to previously excluded groups (such as low-income farmers) (Hazell Sberro-Kessler and Varangis 2017)

Morocco has seen a rapid growth of insured beneficiaries due to the establishment of subsidies Since 2008 the country has been developing a highly subsidised and comprehensive insurance system in cooperation with the Mutuelle Agricole Marocaine drsquoAssurances (MAMDA) As of 2016 50012 farmers were insured compared to only 3784 farmers five years prior In absolute numbers the coverage is still low However one of the main causes of this rapid growth was the governmentrsquos subsidy of premiums covering up to 90 per cent of small farmersrsquo contributions (owners of less than 3 hectares) Small farmers own 77 per cent of all insured areas (Atlas Magazine 2017) (see also Box 3) In Iran subsidies allow beneficiary farmers to receive USD405 back for every dollar spent on premiums36 making it an attractive insurance (Hazell Sberro-Kessler and Varangis 2017)

34 In many countries these programmes are offered by social assistance schemes using targeting mechanisms to identify the most vulnerable households These cases were not considered in this paper

35 In Libya a universal statutory benefit exists only in a legal sense

36 Reference years 2003-2007

Working Paper28

Low coverage is mainly associated with insurance costs As of 2016 only 8 per cent of farmers in Tunisia were covered by agricultural insurance (40000 of 516000) In Algeria 5 per cent of farmers were covered by the insurance (50000 of approximately 1 million) (Atlas Magazine 2017)

BOX 3 Moroccorsquos subsidies to the Mutuelle Agricole Marocaine drsquoAssurances

State subsidies were crucial to guarantee the expansion of agricultural insurance in Morocco The subsidy rate decreases as the area owned by farmers increases and is divided into four categories according to the property area (ie less than 3 hectares between 3 and 5 hectares between 5 and 30 hectares and over 30 hectares)

State subsidies apply to crop-hail insurance and multi-risk climate insurance The latter covers cereals and legumes against droughts flooding strong winds sand winds and frost for example It has increasing importance as climate change is making these events more frequent and devastating The south-western region of the country is one of the most affected by climate changes and is responsible for 90 per cent of Moroccan agricultural exports employing over 25000 workers in agriculture As the region suffers constantly from droughts and floods the need for an increased insurance system as part of a climate risk management strategy has become crucial Therefore the government has been working with international organisations to improve insurance coverage and help micro- small- and medium-sized enterprises in the agricultural sector cope with climate risks (Deutsche Welle 2018 MCII and GIZ 2019)

The COVID-19 pandemic has reinforced the need to invest in public social protection schemes that protect people from income losses in case of sickness or unemployment It has also demonstrated the role of agricultural insurance schemes to mitigate shocks Morocco through MAMDA has provided support to insured farmers against the impacts of the health crisis and the concomitant drought that hit the country Thanks to digitisation over the last few years including geolocation of insured farmers and data provided by mobile applications it was possible to guarantee a rapid response and pay compensations more than two months ahead of the usual schedule (Khattabi 2020)

4 CHALLENGES FOR THE EXPANSION OF SOCIAL PROTECTION IN THE NENA REGION AND BEST PRACTICES TO OVERCOME THEM

Although the access to social security is a human right enshrined in international treaties and is an essential instrument to prevent and reduce poverty and develop rural economies barriers related to the availability accessibility affordability and quality of services in rural areas still exist and are not easy to overcome Adapting and designing more flexible social protection schemes adapted to the reality of workers in the agricultural sector requires a careful assessment of the obstacles faced by rural workers in accessing social protection In the following section five main barriers (lack of data legal and programme design financial administrative and institutional and participation and information barriers) will be presented as well as good practices that countries in the region have been following to overcome them

41 LACK OF DATA

The lack of demographic data as well as data on the coverage of social protection schemes in rural areas are crucial points that must be rectified in order to better understand and expand the coverage of social protection including social insurance in the NENA region For example the World Bankrsquos ASPIRE database provides coverage information through

household surveys and it is usually limited to large-scale programmes often excluding smaller schemes Furthermore household surveys may provide imprecise coverage estimates due to sampling bias Moreover underreporting and the lack of other sources makes it harder to cross-check and confirm figures This lack of data is part of a broader lack of understanding of the situation of agricultural workers and rural populations including their needs and capacities

In addition the available databases are generally not disaggregated geographically Sources such as the ILO World Social Protection Data Dashboards (ILO nd) are not disaggregated by ruralurban areas In the ASPIRE database disaggregated data comparing rural and urban access to social protection systems for example is only available for a limited number of countries such as Mauritania Jordan Egypt Syria Iraq and Yemen For the last three countries data is far from reflecting the current circumstances as they only reflect a pre-conflict situation highlighting the importance of having updated databases

A recent work developed by FAO NENA and the IPC-IG (Bacil Silva and Bilo 2020) represents a notable effort to overcome the barriers regarding coverage estimations and to better understand how social protection addresses risks and vulnerabilities faced by rural communities a toolkit to measure the coverage of social protection programmes It goes beyond usual approaches by taking into account risks faced by vulnerable social groups in light of determinant factors (such age gender and place of residence) Focusing on risks faced by specific sectors of the population this new approach allows understanding more precisely the extent to which social protection programmes address the risks and vulnerabilities faced by rural populations The toolkit was applied to a case study focused on social protection programmes in Sudan where the authors discovered that formal social protection (ie provided by the government) only covers 03 per cent of the risks faced by farmers considering crop failure and livestock issues as well as natural disasters37

42 LEGAL FRAMEWORK AND PROGRAMME DESIGN

The main barriers to extending social protection schemesmdashincluding social insurancemdash to rural areas are legal framework and programme design In many cases such as Lebanon farmers are not even considered in Labour Law Self-employed workers as well as workers in casual seasonal or temporary employment and typical agriculture activities (farming pastoralism forestry and fishery) are commonly excluded from social insurance schemes by law Additionally limitations are also related to minimum thresholds regarding the duration of employment business size (number of employees) working hours or covered salaries and the exclusion of international or internal migrant workers for which limited portability can also be a problem When voluntary enrolment is possible some agricultural workers prefer not to participate because they believe that opportunity costs outweigh potential earnings (Allieu and Ocampo 2019) Table 5 summarises the explicit legal exclusions and inclusions affecting the coverage of agricultural workers in contributory social protection schemes

The analysis of the state of social insurance in the region in the previous section showed that Sudan is the country with the least comprehensive security system among the countries analysed (see Annex 2) It does not provide family allowances unemployment insurance or temporary disability benefits Along with Yemen Sudan is also one of the countries with the

37 The toolkit is available at lthttpsisgdh6ZIM8gt and the Sudan case study is available at lthttpsisgd2c6yymgt

Working Paper30

most legal barriers that lead to the exclusion of workers from the agricultural sector On the other hand Iran (voluntarily coverage) Tunisia and Morocco are the countries with the most comprehensive systems in terms of legal coverage of agricultural workers It is worth noting that both Iran and Tunisia also have special systems in place for agricultural workers Other expansions of social insurance schemes to small-scale fishers in Morocco Tunisia and Egypt are discussed in the next sub-section (Box 4) focusing on the role of subsidies

TABLE 5 Explicit legal exclusions and inclusions of agricultural workers in contributory social protection schemes in the NENA region (selected countries)

Country Type InsuranceLegal considerations affecting agricultural workers

Included groups Excluded groups

Algeria

SI Old-age disability and survivorsrsquo

Certain categories of fishers and self-employed persons NA

SI Unemployment Private-sector employees with a permanent contract

Employees without a permanent contract self-employed workers

i Sickness and maternity

ii Work injury

iii Family allowance

NA Self-employed workers

Employed persons including foreign workers covered under

bilateral agreements Casual workers and self-employed

workers have a special system

SI Sickness and maternity NATemporary and casual

agricultural workers self-employed workers

SI Work injury NA Casual workers self-employed workers

SI Unemployment NA Temporary seasonal and causal workers self-employed workers

SI ndash Rural

i Old-age disability and survivorsrsquo

ii Work injury

iii Unemployment

The Rural Social Insurance Fund covers farmers and citizens living in rural areas Voluntary coverage

SI ndash General

ii Unemployment

Jordan

ii Work injury

Self-employed workers Casual employees

SIi Maternity benefits

ii UnemploymentNA Casual employees self-

employed workers

EL Sickness benefit NA Certain agricultural workers self-employed workers

Lebanon

SI Old-age disability survivorsrsquo Employees in agricultural sector

Temporary agricultural employees citizens of countries without reciprocal agreements

with Lebanon and self-employed workers

SI Medical benefits (sickness and maternity)

Certain categories of agricultural employees Voluntary coverage

for self-employed workers

Temporary agricultural employees and citizens of

countries without reciprocal agreement

EL Work injury NA Self-employed workers

SI Family allowance NA Self-employed workers

Libya SI

i Old-age disability survivorsrsquo

ii Sickness and maternity

iii Work injury

Self-employed persons NA

Mauritania

ii Work injury

Wage earners including temporary and casual workers Self-employed workers

ii Family allowanceNA Self-employed workers (can only

access medical benefits)

EL Sickness benefit NA Self-employed workers

Morocco

iv Unemployment

Private-sector employees and apprentices in agricultural sector

employees in cooperatives and certain categories of fishers

Self-employed workers

EL Work injury

Salaried employees self-employed workers Self-employed workers pay insurance premiums

to a private carrier

ii Work injury

Private-sector employees and self-employed workers Farmers and foresters

EL Sickness and maternity (cash benefits) NA

Self-employed workers agricultural workers and casual

workers

SI Old-age disability survivorsrsquo

Agricultural employees self-employed persons

Family labour and certain migrant workers

SI Work Injury Agricultural employeesSelf-employed persons

family labour and certain migrant workers

EL Sickness and maternity (cash benefits) NA Self-employed workers

Working Paper32

Tunisia

Self-employed workers A special scheme covers agricultural

workers farmers and certain categories of fishers and

low-income earners

SISickness and maternity

(cash and medical benefits)

Self-employed persons and fishers NA

SI Work injury

Salaried employees including agricultural workers

casual temporary and household workers

members of cooperatives fishers Voluntary coverage for

self-employed workers

SI Unemployment NASelf-employed workers

agricultural workers and household workers

SI Family allowance

Private-sector employees including casual and temporary

workers fishers members of agricultural cooperatives

employees of farms with 30 or more workers

Self-employed workers household workers

and employees of farms with less than 30 workers

SIOld-age disability

SurvivorsrsquoNA

Self-employed workers casual workers agricultural workers

seafarers and fishers

Self-employed workers casual workers certain

agricultural workers and certain migrant workers

SI Work injury (cash benefits) NA Self-employed workers

Source Authorrsquos elaboration based on the ISSA database

To achieve a comprehensive social protection system some countries are reforming their social insurance systems expanding coverage to new groups The new Social Insurance and Pension Law (no 148 of 2019)38 in Egypt is one example Approved on 19 August 2019 and effective since 1 January 2020 the Law extends the coverage of many insurance and pension benefits including ten categories covered for the first time such as temporary and seasonal workers housekeepers small-scale agricultural tenants and property owners Before this reform the country had a social insurance system fragmented across six different schemes to different groups of employed workers with very heterogeneous benefits and risk coverage Casual and informal sector workers used to be covered by the Comprehensive Social Security System which only allowed access to old-age invalidity and survivorsrsquo pensions39 (Loewe 2000) The new Law aims to unify social insurance benefits under a single scheme applying to both private and public sectors and including certain temporary

38 The new unified law will replace current laws no 79 of 1975 108 of 1976 50 of 1978 and 112 of 1980

39 Despite the low coverage of risks this system used to offer average benefits ten times higher than contributions being mostly (90 per cent) financed by cross-subsidisation and other social insurance schemes (Loewe 2000)

and seasonal workers They are now entitled to sickness disability death workplace injury and unemployment benefits (Webster and Rosseau 2019)

Other countries extended the coverage of social insurance to agricultural workers by establishing special schemes for certain vulnerable groups These special systems may be needed to address the particularities of rural workers but can also create issues related to portability especially for those that often migrate from rural to urban areas In addition it can create fragmented systems (such as the case of pre-reform Egypt) and offer limited levels of protection for vulnerable workers

In 2002 a special social insurance for some occupational categories of low-income workers was introduced in Tunisia In the agricultural sector these categories include small-scale fishers independent farmers working on land that does not exceed 5 non-irrigated hectares or 1 irrigated hectare small-scale boat owners and independent fishers as well as fishers working on boats whose gross tonnage does not exceed 5 tonnes The special social insurance covers old-age disability survivorsrsquo and sickness pensionsbenefits including health care benefits The contribution rate is of 75 per cent applied to base earnings equal to two-thirds of the minimum wage Self-employed workers contribute at the full rate and formal employees share the contribution with the employer (two-thirds and one-third respectively)

Recently Tunisia also reformed the national law aiming to allow rural women working in informal sectors to access social insurance benefits (voluntary insurance)40 protecting this especially vulnerable group and their families The first step towards extending coverage consisted in providing decision-makers with information about the access barriers to social insurance faced by rural women which was accomplished through a study in 2016 the result of a cooperation between the Ministry of Womenrsquos Affairs the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and UN Women This study showed that only 105 of rural women had access to social insurance and that the main obstacle to enrolment was precarious working conditions such as work without a contract and temporary jobs comprising fewer days than what was necessary to join social security schemes In 2019 legal reforms were finally enacted aiming to overcome these barriers lowering eligibility requirements for rural women in informal sectors A digital platform was created to register these women (see the next subsection for more details about the Ahmini Platform) and 10000 previously excluded individuals signed up for social insurance in the second half of 2019 The scheme covers access to work accident benefits retirement pensions and medical coverage to insured women and their families (OHCHR 2020)

43 FINANCIAL BARRIERS

Income in the agricultural sector is generally seasonal low irregular unpredictable and primarily non-cash or in-kind Social insurance schemes are usually not adapted to these income characteristics of agricultural workers (eg only accepting monthly contributions) Small- and medium-scale farmers and fishers as well as seasonal and casual workers for example have very irregular incomes which affect their capacity to contribute to social insurance schemes with regular payments The affordability of social insurance schemes

40 See Box 4 for considerations about voluntary insurance

Working Paper34

is another issue for employers employees and self-employed workers in the agricultural sector Payroll contributions may even widen the social insurance coverage gap by creating disincentives to the formalisation of jobs in the sector (Allieu and Ocampo 2019)

When casual seasonal or short-term employees are covered by contributory schemes it is difficult to trace the financial responsibility of each employer For self-employed workers the obligation to pay both employee and employer contributions is an additional barrier unless appropriate measures are taken by the State to subsidise their participation (Allieu and Ocampo 2019) In Jordan for example self-employed and voluntarily insured workers in the old age disability and survivorsrsquo scheme contribute with 175 per cent of gross monthly covered earnings compared to 65 per cent of wage workers In Libya self-employed workers contribute with 1567 per cent of gross monthly earnings while employees contribute with 375 per cent of total monthly covered earnings Annex 4 provides a full overview of contributions provided by insured workers employers self-employed workers and governments for each social insurance scheme analysed based on ISSA data Additionally self-employed workers must usually fulfil more demanding qualifying conditions In Algeria for example the required age for self-employed persons to qualify for the old-age pension is five years higher than for salaried employees The low productivity of work in the agricultural sector unpredictable and irregular incomes and higher contributions make social insurance schemes unattractive and unaffordable to self-employed workers in the sector In addition lack of information and financial literacy on short-term versus long-term benefits negatively affects the willingness of workers to contribute

BOX 4 Problems with voluntary coverage of social insurance schemes

Mandatory contributions for both workers and employers is a key aspect of social insurance schemes They ensure the principle of solidarity and guarantee the inclusion of workers regardless of the risk they represent (Borowski and Kingson 2019) On the other hand voluntary coverage is often associated with a model where only the worker contributes eliminating the employerrsquos co-responsibility and therefore undermining the principle of collective financing Moreover voluntary coverage can fragment the social insurance scheme by excluding the most marginalised workers who cannot afford or do not see the advantages of contributing to the scheme or even by creating inferior regimes with lower levels of protection

As an alternative countries worldwide have been expanding social insurance schemes for informal workers on a voluntary basis to enhance protection This is considered a possible alternative to the fact that mandatory contributions cannot be imposed on most informal workers However there is little evidence to support the theory that voluntary insurance leads to significant coverage increase The preference of workers for spending rather than saving or self-insuring are factors that reduce the propensity to contribute even for those who can afford voluntary schemes To overcome these factors it is necessary to create positive incentives to contribute and remove information barriers which can be accomplished through financial literacy programmes communication campaigns as well as financial and non-financial incentives As part of these efforts it is especially important to address the conditions of the most vulnerable workers (Winkler Bulmer and Mote 2017)

These characteristics and vulnerabilities faced by workers in the agricultural sector highlight the importance of subsidised insurance for small and medium producers self-employed workers and certain categories of salaried workers in the sector However in the NENA region State subsidies to insurance are not common being generally limited to covering deficits so that the systems mostly rely on the contributions of employers and employees (see Annex 2) Although a few countries have subsidised systems there

are rare instances where these subsidies are focused on agricultural workers On the other hand subsidies are common in agricultural insurance In the case of Morocco (previously discussed in Box 3) subsidies allowed a rapid increase in the coverage of small farmers (Atlas Magazine 2017) However it should be noted that the cost of subsidising pensions is higher than subsidising agricultural insurance Other possibilities to protect these workers include creating schemes that mix non-contributory and contributory elements

BOX 5 Social protection to small-scale fishers gradual legal inclusion and the importance of subsidies

Social protection (including social insurance particularly when subsidised social assistance and subsidies) have the potential to address many of the risks and vulnerabilities faced by small-scale fishers in the NENA region An analysis conducted by FAO in Albania Lebanon Egypt Morocco and Tunisia showed that the last three countries offer sector-specific social security benefits to small-scale fishers (FAO 2019c)

In these three cases the legal inclusion of salaried fishers took place gradually over the 1950s and 1960s Over the decades they also included unsalaried fishers working in the informal sector and self-employed small-scale fishers reaching the most vulnerable In Morocco for example fishers have been covered by the social insurance law since 1961 Still non-salaried small-scale fishers had no access to social security and health coverage until 2012 (FAO 2019c)

The social insurance schemes are mandatory and fishing licenses are conditional on enrolment in social security schemes which is important to ensure compliance with social security obligations Moreover policies were designed to promote the registration of fishers in social registries However like other agricultural workers small-scale fishers have irregular and low incomes which hinder regular contributions that form the basis of social insurance schemes To overcome this problem countries have adopted various strategies

Morocco established a policy of cross-subsidisation (contributors from other sectors subsidise the benefits of small-scale fishers) so that fishers are the only category of workers who receive more from the social insurance fund than they contribute The country has the broadest coverage of the three countries (about 95 per cent of all small-scale fishers) A crucial component of this success is making social security registration a prerequisite for obtaining fishing licences and other relevant documentation Moreover Morocco overcame practical challenges by automatically deducting the income-related contributions of small-scale fishers from social and health insurance at the point of catch sale The automatic deduction of a fixed percentage of the catch removed the need for fishers to provide monthly income estimates and actively make payments (FAO 2019c) It also addressed the challenge imposed by undeclared or underreported salaries and income in the agricultural sector which is perceived as one of the main challenges of social protection in the country (Government of Morocco 2019)

Tunisia is discussing how to subsidise the insurance of small-scale fishers and the Ministry of Agriculture has already committed to financing it The process of expanding social insurance coverage to smaller-scale fishers (who work on vessels measuring 5m in length or less) has created a reduced package of benefits and simplified fixed-fee contributions based on the minimum wage While this approach has improved access to social insurance for poor fishers on the one hand on the other it has also led to reduced contributions to the social fund Moreover those fishers whose earnings are below the minimum wage remain uncovered This has also resulted in different insurance options for fishers Boat owners working on boats measuring less than 12m for example can choose between three insurance benefit packages by contributing with a higher percentage of their declared income they can access all the social security benefits but if they choose to contribute with a smaller percentage they are entitled to health and retirement insurance only This scheme can be perceived as a good practice as it allows for an optimal ratio between contribution and benefit (FAO 2019c)

Egypt has established heavy government subsidies and therefore small-scale fishers only make a nominal contribution According to FAO (2019c) Egyptian fishers consider that compulsory registration is tangible and perceive that the benefits provided by the social insurance scheme have notable impacts on the welfare of families As in the case of Morocco Egypt also deducts the income-related contributions of small-scale fishers at the point of catch sale eliminating practical barriers A fixed amount of EGP6 (USD03) is deducted from each unit of catch specified in kg and the money is directly deposited in local cooperative funds (FAO 2019c)

Working Paper36

Regarding social insurance the Rural and Nomad Social Insurance Fund in Iran provides a good example of the use of subsidised systems to extend coverage to the rural sector The Fund was introduced in 2005 to extend voluntary social insurance coverage to nomad populations farmers and citizens living in rural areas This Fund should cover workers and inhabitants in cities with a population of less than 20000 people The beneficiaries contribute 5 per cent of their income and the government adds a subsidised contribution equal to 10 per cent of the beneficiariesrsquo income Agricultural workers people living in rural areas and nomads above the age of 18 are eligible joining the Fund on a voluntary basis The insurance coverage is divided into eight income groups ranging from USD60 up to USD181 per month The main benefits provided under the Rural Social Insurance Fund include old-age pension survivorsrsquo pension disability pension health care services and work injury disability pension As of 2015 the Fund covered a total of 135 million people However most of the insured were in the most developed provinces in the country indicating that rural workers in the most vulnerable areas were not covered (Financial Tribune 2015) This effect demonstrates one of the shortcomings of voluntary approaches which may not reach those most in need and provide subsidies to people who may not need them Box 4 discusses the limitations of voluntary coverage in more detail

Other interesting examples of how Egypt Tunisia and Morocco expanded their social insurance coverage for small-scale fishers are described in Box 5 In all three approaches special financial conditions were established to determine the contributions of fishers

44 ADMINISTRATIVE AND INSTITUTIONAL BARRIERS

Administrative and institutional procedures are considered obstacles to accessing social protection programmes as they can deter people from enrolling or incurring high opportunity costs to their participation This can be particularly true for informal workers whose time spent in registration processes and queuing for benefits can translate into income losses owing to absence from work Aggravating the remoteness of millions of people in rural areas there are a limited number of physical offices that disburse the benefits of social protection programmes (Allieu and Ocampo 2019) It is also important to note that even when comprehensive legislative frameworks are in place ensuring compliance can be challenging due to administrative barriers such as limited inspection mechanisms and the burden of cross-checking information

The lower levels of registration (identification) among rural workers is a significant issue which has been mitigated through the use of innovative tools such as the farmersrsquo registry This registry is a web-based application that leverages agricultural and socioeconomic farm data to directly gather key information on smallholder farmers and indirectly expand social protection coverage Identifying people living in rural area is a primary and crucial step to develop policies directed at farmers support their progressive formalisation enable access to productivity and social services enable the creation and expansion of new servicesbenefits and finally guarantee better coverage of social protection The registry allows the farmer to be immediately considered for social insurance and social assistance programmes (Lorenzon 2018) Moreover digital platforms integrated with the registries can help gather certified data on farmersrsquo livelihoods simulating their income level contactinginforming farmers about their rights to access social security and also the subsidy process (Ajvazi 2015) These possibilities

are positive trade-off that can provide incentive for farmers to register and furnish evidence on how to adapt social protection systems according to the needs of the most vulnerable people Lower registration rates can also be partially explained by reluctance regarding paying more taxes with no return

Some countries in the NENA region are making advances in this sense In Lebanon for example FAO and the Ministry of Agriculture have been working together since 2017 to implement a national farmerrsquos registry In its pilot phase the registry collected data on rural households such as access to social protection the existence of productivity support (loans subsidies and inputs) and the existence of non-family workers considering gender age work status and nationality in the rural zones In addition to being a primary step to expanding social insurance to agricultural workers the registry is also useful in facilitating their access to social assistance This is because the collected socioeconomic data is crossed against the database used for the flagship Emergency National Poverty Targeting Programme (NPTP) ensuring that the most vulnerable farmers could also be linked to it (Lorenzon 2018) Farmer registries have a great potential to complement social registries with data from agricultural workers that can be hard to reach and identify The interoperability between both registries depends on the creation of a unique repository to cross-check information and the coordination between different actors involved in the process of registration (Carfi 2018)

The African Development Bank (AfDB) also made efforts to implement a Farming Digitalisation and Farm Registry project The AfDB highlights that there is increasing evidence of the potential of digital innovations and data to benefit local farmers especially small-scale farmers41 who represent 85 per cent of all farmers in Africa (AfDB 2017) In 2017 there were ongoing data collection efforts in Tunisia and agreements to start the project in Mauritania among many other countries in the African continent (Bahemuka 2017)

The Government of Tunisia has agreed to use new technologies to register and integrate rural women into its social protection system Rural women workers are especially vulnerable in the country as over 90 per cent do not have health coverage only 12 per cent have social security coverage and 81 per cent are working in arduous conditions (Haddad 2018 UN Women 2019) Against this background a World Bank initiative has resulted in the creation of a new and accessible technologymdashthe Ahmini Platformmdashto enrol rural women in social security using a mobile phone without the need to leave the household and spend workdays and money to travel (UN Women 2019) Eight per cent of rural women have a mobile phone so they can use the Platform which is connected to the IT infrastructure of social security funds to pay contributions remotely and at low amounts (USD020 per day)42 (UN Women 2019 Hammami 2019) Ahmini also allows volunteer ambassadors and humanitarian staff to enrol rural women directly in their community as registration can be carried out online with certified document scanning transmission and validation through the Platform by the social security fund (UN Women 2019) It is expected that the Ahmini Platform can help more than 500000 rural women workers whose daily income is only USD3 to access social security and health services (Hammami 2019 UN Women 2019)

41 With farms of less than 2 hectares

42 For more information about the registration process and other aspects of the Ahmini platform see lthttpsahmininetenhomegt

Working Paper38

45 PARTICIPATION AND INFORMATION CHALLENGES

Lack of access to the political decision-making process and political marginalisation are further barriers to enhancing the protection of rural communities fishers and food producer families As a consequence policies in the NENA region are usually set to respond only to the supply-side of the agricultural production equation and not focus on improving the producersrsquo living conditions (Woertz 2017) Most NENA governments have concentrated resources on water energy and food subsidies as well as on large-scale supply-side projects to irrigate agriculture including expensive investments in desalination initiatives dam construction tapping fossil groundwater importing virtual water and inter-basin water transfers (Sowers Vengosh and Weinthal 2011 Woertz 2017) Improving the opportunities for representation and political participation of family producers could develop the considerable potential of dry-land farming in the region boosting social protection in rural areas and combating poverty as well as leading to more sustainable environment policies

As noted in the Arab Human Development reports lack of political participation has also undermined reserves of social capital (Sowers Vengosh and Weinthal 2011) There is widespread mistrust of public institutions and government agencies which disincentives enrolment in public insurance schemes for those who can participate voluntarily Moreover the conflicts and political instabilities in many NENA countries further aggravate the lack of trust in institutions and increase the risks of contributing to public insurance pensions and not benefiting from them when needed

Especially (but not exclusively) in rural areas these barriers are exacerbated by the limited awareness of social protection schemes and programmes Factors such as distance to information points information that is inadequate relative to the literacy levels of rural people and psychological barriers resulting from the poverty and isolation of people living in rural areas are all obstacles to enrolment in social protection These factors have also led some agricultural workers to deliberately opt out of social insurance schemes because they believe that the opportunity costs outweigh possible gains (Allieu and Ocampo 2019)

To overcome information limitations successful initiatives worldwide have adopted measures including awareness raising campaigns and specific strategies to adapt social protection for rural contexts They have aimed to use more appropriate communications channels such as focal points local authorities community gatherings community van announcements and community radios to inform rural regions while also adapting information to the literacy levels of each community (ILO 2011) Analysing how to address the lack of awareness about social insurance in Egypt a recent report (ESCWA 2020b) states that it is necessary to carry out a communications campaign delivered in cooperation with local stakeholders and aimed at informing the rural population about the main provisions of the new health insurance law the benefits of regular heath check-ups and preventive services as well as creating an ongoing feedback mechanism in the form of citizen focus groups or direct consultations

5 CONCLUSIONS

The NENA region is experiencing a singular moment in its history of social policies Several countries are discussing reforms to social protection systems moving to replace price subsidies with targeted non-contributory social assistance schemes However large segments of

society remain left behind exposed to risks and facing increasing vulnerabilities Due to a reduced capacity of the public and formal private sectors to generate decent employment opportunities many families lack access to social protection Countries such as Lebanon Jordan and Tunisia are currently reviewing their social protection strategies and policies Concomitantly with the COVID-19 crisis which has evidenced gaps in the coverage of social protection systems and their role in tackling vulnerabilities and promoting social and economic inclusion this moment represents an opportunity for countries to expand SPFs and include vulnerable populations traditionally excluded from social protection systems such as those living in rural areas Further it could represent an opportunity for NENA countries to renew their social contracts and combat historic inequalities

Along the path of structural economic transformation in the region public policies have neglected rural areas producing inequality and poverty These areas are characterised mainly by high labour informality and low productivity of agricultural work The demographic dynamics the outbreak of conflicts in the region the COVID-19 pandemic the worsening effects of climate change and high urban youth unemployment rates are some of the factors that magnify the urgent need to rethink policies for development and social inclusion for agricultural workers Social protection systemsmdashincluding floorsmdashstand out as key policy tools to promote livelihoods and economic inclusion improve resilience to shocks prevent and mitigate poverty-associated risks address food insecurity promote social cohesion gender equality sustainable peace and reconstruct local economies among many other advantages Social insurance schemes are particularly important as they can avoid deprivation mitigate the impact of adverse shocks and avoid harmful risk-coping strategies

One of the main advantages of social insurance over social assistance is that it usually provides higher levels of protection enabling rural populations to manage risks and contribute to the systemsrsquo fiscal sustainability Also as social insurance schemes provide earning-related benefits they provide incentives for workers to make larger contributions to receive proportionally higher benefits which is not the case with social assistance schemes

All 12 analysed countries have old age disability and survivorsrsquo sickness and maternity and work injury insurance schemes in place However legal financial administrative cultural and information barriers currently hamper workers in the agricultural sector in accessing social insurance benefits There is an additional crucial challenge involving lack of data to understand the needs and potentialities of agricultural workers

The statutory exclusions of certain agricultural workers self-employed persons seasonal casual temporary employees migrant workers and the adoption of minimum thresholds as conditions to enrol in insurance schemes function as exclusionary mechanisms that should be reviewed by countriesmdashmany have already been doing so in recent years In this sense the new Insurance and Pensions Law in Egypt stands out as an example to countries in the region as well as the extension of social insurance to rural women working in the informal sector in Tunisia and the different schemes that the country has developed to benefit small-scale fishers Moreover as workers in the agricultural sector usually have diversified sources of income the flexibility and portability of social protection schemes are fundamental factors of success including enabling geographical and sectoral mobility allowing households to take advantage of emerging opportunities in different places and across different sectors

However even when comprehensive frameworks are present compliance levels can be very low as there are significant financing and administrative barriers to expanding

Working Paper40

social insurance These barriers prevent workers in the agricultural sector from enrolling in social insurance schemes and can even create disincentives to the formalisation of jobs in rural areas Adequate initiatives to address administrative challenges include linking registration in social insurance schemes with licensing and other forms of governmental support as illustrated by the case of small-scale fishers discussed in this paper In addition subsidising the social insurance participation of agricultural workers as in the case of Iran can be considered a good practice to address financial constraints when the subsidies help the most vulnerable people Moreover establishing special social insurance schemes covering low-income groups with reduced contribution rates (as in the case of Tunisia) can help solve the financial barrier issue although it is necessary to avoid the creation of sub-systems that provide less protection to some workers Finally initiatives such as Ahmini platform in Tunisia and farmersrsquo registries in Lebanon are essential for a de-facto inclusion of agricultural workers and an indispensable first step towards expanding the coverage of social protection systems

The establishment of farmersrsquo registries is also crucial in the effort to increase the availability of quality data on rural workers and generate evidence to inform policy decisions Registration efforts as exemplified by these initiatives allow for a better understanding of the risks and vulnerabilities of rural areas and improvements to the adaptability of programmes and to the access of rural workers For example information about the level of contribution of rural workers compared to those in the urbanindustrial sectors in all NENA countries could provide additional inputs for deeper policy-oriented research Demographic data and information about social protection coverage of fishers and farmers in the region is a crucial step to making those people visible in the policy-making process Registration efforts need to be built into integrated registries featuring interoperability between and across social protection systems and other national information systems

Moreover it is necessary to guarantee that agricultural workers are effectively included in the political and decision-making process Along with providing adequate information about social protection programmes political inclusion not only has the potential to combat poverty and inequality in the region but can also lead to more sustainable policies develop the underexplored potential of agricultural production in the region promote opportunities for collective organisation of workers and address other problems such as lack of trust in governments and public institutions

The provision of social insurance benefits for agricultural workers and rural communities is a subject that needs to be further explored One topic that should be discussed further is informal and semi-formal types of social protection such as community-based protection and mutual funds As this is an important component of social protection in the NENA countries further studies are necessary It is also necessary to go beyond the analysis of statutory coverage and investigate the effective coverage of each social insurance scheme as well as their comprehensiveness and adequacy Finally although research on social assistance programmes supporting rural communities in the NENA region has progressed in the last years in-depth analyses of social insurance and labour market programmes are also essential to ensuring social protection as a human right ultimately combating inequalities poverty and enhancing the livelihoods of those most in need

REFERENCES

AfDB 2017 lsquoEconomic Benefits of Open Data in Africarsquo Cocircte drsquoIvoire African Development Bank Group lthttpswwwtralacorgdocumentsresourcesafrica1752-economic-benefits-of-open-data-in-africa-afdb-march-2017filehtmlgt Accessed 11 December 2020

Ajvazi Besim 2015 lsquoNational Farmers Registry Sytem Is Supporting Agricultural Subisdies in Kosovorsquo Geo-SEE Institute 4 lthttpswwwacademiaedu12966151NATIONAL_FARMERS_REGISTRY_SYSTEM_IN_SUPPORTING_AGRICULTURAL_SUBSIDIES_IN_KOSOVOgt Accessed 11 December 2020

Allieu Andrew Mundalo and Ana Ocampo 2019 lsquoOn the Path to Universal Coverage for Rural Populations Removing Barriers of Access to Social Protectionrsquo Rome Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations lthttpwwwfaoorg3ca7246enca7246enpdfgt Accessed 11 December 2020

Atlas Magazine 2017 lsquoAgricultural Insurance in Maghreb and the Middle Eastrsquo Atlas Magazine Insurances Around the World lthttpswwwatlas-magnetenarticleagricultural-insurance-in-maghreb-and-the-middle-eastgt Accessed 11 December 2020

Bacil Fabiana Wesley Silva and Charlotte Bilo 2020 Social Protection Coverage Toolkit IPC-IG Research Report No 50 Brasilia and Cairo Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth lthttpswwwipcigorgpublication29415gt Accessed 11 December 2020

Bahemuka Stephen 2017 lsquoFarms Digitization and Farmers Registryrsquo Presented at the Africa Food Security Conference Nairobi lthttpwwwaidembscomafricafood-security_conferenceagendagt Accessed 11 December 2020

Bilo Charlotte and Raquel Tebaldi 2020 lsquoMaternidad y Paternidad En El Lugar de Trabajo En Ameacuterica Latina y El Caribe mdash Poliacuteticas Para La Licencia de Maternidad y Paternidad y Apoyo a La Lactancia Maternarsquo Brasilia y Ciudad de Panamaacute Centro Internacional de Poliacuteticas para el Crecimiento Inclusivo y Fondo de las Naciones Unidas para la Infancia mdashOficina Regional para Ameacuterica Latina y el Caribe Accessed 11 December 2020

Bird Nicolograve and Wesley Silva 2020 lsquoThe Role of Social Protection in Young Peoplersquos Transition to Work in the Middle East and North Africarsquo IPC Research Report No 41 Brasiacutelia International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth lthttpswwwipcigorgpublication29329gt Accessed 11 December 2020

Bonnet Florence and Lou Tessier 2014 lsquoSocial Protection Coverage and Genderrsquo Brief for the Working Group on discrimination against women HCHR International Labour Organization

Borowski Allan and Eric Kingson 2019 lsquoThe Role of Social Insurance in Alleviating Poverty Australian Prospectsrsquo In Revisiting Henderson Examining Social Security and Poverty in Australia edited by Peter Saunders 330-349 Melbourne Melbourne University Press

Carfi Salvatore 2018 lsquoWhat Are Registries and Data Management in EUrsquo Presented at the Farmersrsquo Registry - A tool in support of small scale agriculture and rural poverty reduction August 16 lthttpsisgdK9AFDI Accessed 11 December 2020

Christiaensen Luc Lionel Demery and Jesper Kuumlhl 2006 lsquoThe Role of Agriculture in Poverty Reduction An Empirical Perspectiversquo World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 4013 The World Bank lthttpsisgdhDbE8hgt Accessed 11 December 2020

Working Paper42

Deutsche Welle 2018 Agriculture in Morocco Insurance against Losses through Climate Change lthttpswwwdwcomenagriculture-in-morocco-insurance-against-losses-through-climate-changeav-44338246gt Accessed 11 December 2020

Devereux Stephen and Rachel Sabates-Wheeler 2004 lsquoTransformative Social Protectionrsquo IDS Working Paper No 232 Brighton Institute of Development Studies (IDS) lthttpwwwidsacukfilesdmfileWp232pdfgt Accessed 11 December 2020

ESCWA 2020a lsquoMitigating the Impacts of COVID-19 Poverty and Food Insecurity in the Arab Regionrsquo Policy Brief No 2 United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia lthttpswwwunescwaorgsiteswwwunescwaorgfilesen_20-00119_covid-19_povertypdfgt Accessed 11 December 2020

______ 2020b lsquoSocial Protection in Rural Egyptrsquo Beirut Lebanon Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia

FAO 2011 lsquoRegional Priority Framework for the Near Eastrsquo Rome Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations lthttpwwwfaoorgfileadminuser_uploadrnedocsRPF-ENpdfgt Accessed 11 December 2020

______ 2015 lsquoSocial Protection and Decent Rural Employmentrsquo Information note Rome Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

______ 2016 lsquoStrengthening Coherence between Agriculture and Social Protection to Combat Poverty and Hunger in Africarsquo Diagnostic Tool Rome Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations lthttpwwwfaoorg3a-i5385epdfgt Accessed 11 December 2020

______ 2017 lsquoSocial Protection Framework Promoting Rural Development for Allrsquo Rome Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations lthttpwwwfaoorg3a-i7016epdfgtAccessed 11 December 2020

______ 2018 lsquoThe State of Food and Agriculture 2018 Migration Agriculture and Rural Developmentrsquo Rome Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations lthttpwwwfaoorg3I9549ENi9549enpdfgt Accessed 11 December 2020

______ 2019a lsquoFAOrsquos Work on Social Protection Contributing to Zero Hunger Poverty Reduction and Resilience in Rural Areasrsquo Rome Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations lthttpwwwfaoorg3ca5779enCA5779ENpdfgt Accessed 11 December 2020

______ 2019b lsquoRural Transformation-Key for Sustainable Development in the near East and North Africarsquo Overview of Food Security and Nutrition 2018 Cairo Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations lthttpwwwfaoorg3ca3817enca3817enpdfgt Accessed 11 December 2020

______ 2019c Social Protection for Small-Scale Fisheries in the Mediterranean Region A Review Rome Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Accessed 11 December 2020

______ 2020a lsquoFAO COVID-19 Response and Recovery Programme - Economic Inclusion and Social Protection to Reduce Povertyrsquo Rome Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations lthttpsdoiorg104060cb0282engt Accessed 11 December 2020

______ 2020b lsquoImpact of COVID-19 on Informal Workersrsquo Rome Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations lthttpwwwfaoorg3ca8560enCA8560ENpdfgt Accessed 11 December 2020

______ nd lsquoResources - Social Protectionrsquo lthttpwwwfaoorgsocial-protectionresourcesenpage=2ampipp=5amptx_dynalist_pi1[par]=YToxOntzOjE6IkwiO3M6MToiMCI7fQ==gt Accessed 25 August 2020a

______ nd lsquoSocial Protection Overviewrsquo Rome Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations lthttpwwwfaoorgsocial-protectionoverviewengt Accessed 19 August 2020b

Financial Tribune 2015 lsquoInsurance Pensions for Nomads Farmersrsquo Financial Tribune 20 September 2015 Online edition lthttpsfinancialtribunecomarticlespeople26248insurance-pensions-for-nomads-farmersgt Accessed 11 December 2020

Government of Brazil 2019 lsquoConhecer o Programa de Fomento Agraves Atividades Produtivas Ruraisrsquo Government of Brazil website lthttpswwwgovbrpt-brservicoscadastrar-se-no-programa-de-fomento-as-atividades-produtivas-ruraisgt Accessed 11 December 2020

Government of Morocco 2019 lsquoProjet de Politique Publique Integree de la Protection Sociale 2020-2030rsquo Ministegravere de lrsquoEconomie des Finances et de la Reacuteforme de lrsquoAdministration Deacutepartement des Affaires Geacuteneacuterales et de la Gouvernance

Haddad Afef 2018 lsquoEmpowerHer Using Technology to Help Women and Young People in Tunisiarsquo World Bank Blogs 2018 lthttpsblogsworldbankorgarabvoicesempowerher-using-technology-help-women-and-young-people-tunisiagt Accessed 11 December 2020

Hallegatte Stephane Mook Bangalore Laura Bonzanigo Marianne Fay Tamaro Kane Ulf Narloch Julie Rozenberg David Treguer and Adrien Vogt-Schilb 2016 lsquoShock Waves Managing the Impacts of Climate Change on Povertyrsquo Climate Change and Development Serie Washington DC World Bank lthttpsopenknowledgeworldbankorgbitstreamhandle10986227879781464806735pdfsequence=13ampisAllowed=ygt Accessed 11 December 2020

Hammami Hilmi 2019 lsquoAhmini an Application to Protect Tunisian Women Farm Workersrsquo The Arab Weekly website lthttpsthearabweeklycomahmini-application-protect-tunisian-women-farm-workersgt Accessed 11 December 2020

Hazell Peter Rachel Sberro-Kessler and Panos Varangis 2017 lsquoWhen And How Should Agricultural Insurance Be Subsidized Issues And Good Practicesrsquo Finance amp Markets Global Practice International Labour Organization and The World Bank lthttpdocumentsworldbankorgcurateden330501498850168402pdfWhen-and-How-Should-Agricultural-Insurance-be-Subsidized-Issues-and-Good-Practicespdfgt Accessed 11 December 2020

Huong Nguyen Thi Lan 2019 lsquoIncreasing Social Insurance Coverage of Informal Workers in Viet Nanrsquo Presented at the expert group meeting Inclusive Social Protection Systems in Asia and the Pacific Bangkok April lthttpswwwunescaporgsitesdefaultfilesSession_3_PPT_Viet_Nampdfgt Accessed 11 December 2020

IBC-SP 2020 lsquoSocial Protection Responses to the COVID-19 Crisis in the MENA Arab States Regionrsquo Issued-based Coalition on Social Protection lthttpssocialprotectionorgdiscoverpublicationssocial-protection-responses-covid-19-crisis-mena-arab-states-regiongt Accessed 11 December 2020

IFPRI 2020 lsquoBuilding Inclusive Food Systemsrsquo Global Food Policy Report 2020 Washington DC International Food Policy Research Institute lthttpsdoiorg1024999780896293670gt Accessed 11 December 2020

Working Paper44

ILO 2010 lsquoEmployment Injury Benefits Occupational Accident and Disease Insurance Systemsrsquo Moscow ILO DWTST and Country Office for Eastern Europe and Central Asia lthttpswwwiloorgwcmsp5groupspublic---europe---ro-geneva---sro-moscowdocumentspublicationwcms_312424pdfgt Accessed 11 December 2020

______ 2011 lsquoSupporting Rural Development through Social Protection Floorsrsquo Rural Policy Briefs International Labour Organization lthttpswwwiloorgwcmsp5groupspublic---ed_empdocumentspublicationwcms_165995pdfgt Accessed 11 December 2020

______ 2015 lsquoTransition to the Formal Economy A Global Knowledge Sharing Forum - GKSFrsquo Geneva International Labour Organization lthttpswwwiloorgwcmsp5groupspublic---ed_empdocumentsmeetingdocumentwcms_456553pdfgt Accessed 11 December 2020

______ 2017a Building Social Protection Systems International Standards and Human Rights Instruments Geneva International Labour Organization lthttpswwwiloorgsecsocinformation-resourcespublications-and-toolsbooks-and-reportsWCMS_651219lang--enindexhtmgt Accessed 11 December 2020

______ 2017b lsquoWorld Social Protection Report 2017-19 Universal Social Protection to Achieve the Sustainable Development Goalsrsquo Geneva International Labour Organization lthttpswwwiloorgwcmsp5groupspublic---dgreports---dcomm---publdocumentspublicationwcms_604882pdfgt Accessed 11 December 2020

______ 2018a lsquoData Collection Guidelines for ICSE-18rsquo ICLS202018Room document 4 20th International Conference of Labour Statisticians Geneva International Labour Organization lthttpswwwiloorgwcmsp5groupspublic---dgreports---statdocumentsmeetingdocumentwcms_636039pdfgt Accessed 11 December 2020

______ 2018b lsquoWomen and Men in the Informal Economy A Statistical Picturersquo Geneva International Labour Organization lthttpswwwiloorgwcmsp5groupspublic---dgreports---dcommdocumentspublicationwcms_626831pdfgt Accessed 11 December 2020

______ 2018c lsquoMore than 60 per Cent of the Worldrsquos Employed Population Are in the Informal Economrsquo International Labour Organization lthttpswwwiloorgglobalabout-the-ilonewsroomnewsWCMS_627189lang--enindexhtml~text=Agriculture20is20the20sector20withmore20than209020per20centamptext=For20hundreds20of20millions20oflack20of20access20to20financegt Accessed 11 December 2020

______ 2020a lsquoCOVID-19 and the Impact on Agriculture and Food Securityrsquo ILO Sectoral Brief Geneva Switzerland International Labour Organization lthttpswwwiloorgwcmsp5groupspublic---ed_dialogue---sectordocumentsbriefingnotewcms_742023pdfgt Accessed 11 December 2020

______ 2020b lsquoExtending Social Protection to Informal Workers in the COVID-19 Crisis Country Responses and Policy Considerationsrsquo Social Protection Spotlight Geneva International Labour Organization lthttpswwwsocial-protectionorggimiRessourcePDFactionid=56833gt Accessed 11 December 2020

______ 2020c lsquoSocial Protection Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic in Developing Countries Strengthening Resilience by Building Universal Social Protectionrsquo Social Protection Spotlight Geneva International Labour Organization lthttpswwwsocial-protectionorggimiRessourcePDFactionid=56542gt Accessed 11 December 2020

______ 2020d lsquoImpact of COVID-19 on the Forest Sectorrsquo ILO Sectoral Brief Geneva International Labour Organization lthttpwwwiloorgsectorResourcespublicationsWCMS_749497lang--enindexhtmgt Accessed 11 December 2020

______ nd lsquoConventions and Recommendationsrsquo lthttpswwwiloorgglobalstandardsintroduction-to-international-labour-standardsconventions-and-recommendationslang--enindexhtmgt Accessed 9 November 2020a

______ nd lsquoExtending Social Security to Workers in the Informal Economyrsquo Geneva International Labour Organization lthttpswwwsocial-protectionorggimiCourseactionid=3gt Accessed 10 November 2020b

______ nd lsquoILO Social Protection Platformrsquo International Labour Organization lthttpswwwsocial-protectionorggimiWSPDBactionid=40gt Accessed 4 September 2020c

______ nd lsquoRatification by Conventionsrsquo International Labour Organization lthttpswwwiloorgdynnormlexenfp=100012001NOgt Accessed 9 November 2020d

______ nd lsquoSDG Indicator 131 Proportion of Population Covered by Social Protection FloorsSystems ()rsquo ILO Data Explorer lthttpsisgdU1UeZMgt Accessed 11 November 2020e

______ nd lsquoWho Should Be Getting Minimum Wages - Informal Economy Workersrsquo International Labour Organization Accessed 17 June 2020f lthttpswwwiloorgglobaltopicswagesminimum-wagesbeneficiariesWCMS_436492lang--enindexhtmgt Accessed 11 November 2020e

ILSSA and ILO 2014 lsquoSocial Insurance Enhancing Social Security Right for Everyonersquo Policy Brief Vol 3 Institute of Labor Science and Social affairs and International Labour Organization lthttpswwwiloorgwcmsp5groupspublic---asia---ro-bangkok---ilo-hanoidocumentspublicationwcms_428970pdfgt Accessed 11 November 2020e

IMF 2017 lsquoIf Not Now When Energy Price Reform in Arab Countriesrsquo Annual Meeting of Arab Ministers of Finance Rabat International Monetary Fund lthttpsbitly3nlfgX7gt Accessed 11 November 2020e

Islam Iyanatul and Freacutedeacuteric Lapeyre 2020 Transition to Formality and Structural Transformation Challenges and Policy Options Geneva International Labour Organization

ISSA nd lsquoAbout Country Profilesrsquo International Social Security Association lthttpsww1issaintcountry-profilesaboutgt Accessed 4 September 2020a

______ nd lsquoInternational Social Security Association - Social Security Country Profilesrsquo International Social Security Association lthttpswwwissainten_GBcountry-profilesgt Accessed 29 June 2020b

Jawad Rana 2017 lsquoIs Social Protection Becoming More Solidary in the Middle East and North Africarsquo Social Protection after the Arab Spring Policy in Focus Vol 14 No 3 15ndash18 Brasilia International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth lthttpsipcigorgpubengPIF40_Social_protection_after_the_Arab_Springpdfgt Accessed 11 December 2020

Khattabi Ayoub 2020 lsquoCovid-19 Les Indemniteacutes ldquoSeacutecheresserdquo Seron Verseacutees Par La MAMDA Avec Deus Mois drsquoavancersquo Le 360 2020 sec Economie lthttpsfrle360maeconomiecovid-19-les-indemnites-secheresse-seront-versees-par-la-mamda-avec-deux-mois-davance-213828gt Accessed 11 December 2020

Working Paper46

Loewe Markus 2000 lsquoSocial Security in Egypt An Analysis and Agenda for Policy Reformrsquo Working Paper 2024 German Development InstituteDeutsches Institut fuumlr Entwicklungspolitik (DIE) lthttpdxdoiorg102139ssrn2218806gt Accessed 11 December 2020

______ 2017 lsquoPension Schemes in MENA Generousmdashbut Not to the Poorrsquo Social Protection after the Arab Spring Policy in Focus Vol 14 No 311ndash14 Brasilia International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth lthttpsipcigorgpubengPIF40_Social_protection_after_the_Arab_Springpdfgt Accessed 11 December 2020

Lorenzon Flavia 2018 lsquoFarmersrsquo Registry - A Tool in Support of Small Scale Agriculture and Rural Poverty Reductionrsquo socialprotectionorg (blog) 30 August 2018 lthttpssocialprotectionorgdiscoverblogfarmers-registry-tool-support-small-scale-agriculture-and-rural-poverty-reductiongt Accessed 11 December 2020

Machado Anna Carolina Charlotte Bilo Fabio Veras Soares and Rafael Guerreiro Osorio 2018 lsquoOverview of Non-Contributory Social Protection Programmes in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Region through a Child and Equity Lensrsquo Brasiacutelia and Amman International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth and UNICEF Middle East and North Africa Regional Office lthttpwwwipcigorgpubengJP19_Executive_Summary_Overview_of_non_contributory_social_protection_programmespdfgt Accessed 11 December 2020

MCII and GIZ 2019 lsquoRoadmap for Integrated Climate Risk Management Flood Risk and Micro Small and Medium Enterprises in Moroccorsquo BonnEschborn United Nations University Institute for Environment and Human SecurityDeutsche Gesellschaft fuumlr Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH lthttpswwwpreventionwebnetpublicationsview66332gt Accessed 11 December 2020

MiN nd lsquoAgricultural Insurancersquo Microinsurance Network lthttpsmicroinsurancenetworkorgmicroinsurancekey-conceptsagricultural-insurancegt Accessed 4 September 2020

Moueumll Chantal and B Schmitt 2018 Food Dependency in the Middle East and North Africa Region Retrospective Analysis and Projections to 2050 Food Dependency in the Middle East and North Africa Region Retrospective Analysis and Projections to 2050 lthttpsdoiorg101007978-94-024-1563-6gt Accessed 11 December 2020

OECD and FAO 2018 lsquoThe Middle East and North Africa Prospects and Challengesrsquo In OECD-FAO Agricultural Outlook 2018-2027 Paris and Rome OECD Publishing lthttpsdoiorg101787agr_outlook-2018-5-engt Accessed 11 December 2020

OHCHR 2020 lsquoImproving the Lives of Tunisiarsquos Rural Women by United Nations Human Rights Office on Exposurersquo United Nations Human Rights Office (blog) lthttpsunhumanrightsexposurecoimproving-the-lives-of-tunisias-rural-womengt Accessed 11 December 2020

Serraj Rachid and Prabhu Pingali 2018a Agriculture amp Food Systems to 2050 Global Trends Challenges and Opportunities Vol 2 World Scientific Series in Grand Public Policy Challenges of the 21st Century World Scientific lthttpsdoiorg10114211212gt Accessed 11 December 2020

______ 2018b Agriculture amp Food Systems to 2050 Global Trends Challenges and Opportunities Vol 02 World Scientific Series in Grand Public Policy Challenges of the 21st Century World Scientific lthttpsdoiorg10114211212gt Accessed 11 December 2020

Sowers Jeannie Avner Vengosh and Erika Weinthal 2011 lsquoClimate Change Water Resources and the Politics of Adaptation in the Middle East and North Africarsquo Climatic Change 104 (3) 599ndash627 lthttpsdoiorg101007s10584-010-9835-4gt Accessed 11 December 2020

SSA and ISSA 2019 lsquoSocial Security Programs Throughout the World Asia and the Pacific 2018rsquo No 13-11802 Washington DC Social Security Administration (SSA) and the International Social ltSecurity Association (ISSA) httpswwwssagovpolicydocsprogdescssptw2018-2019asiassptw18asiapdfgt httpsdoiorg101007s10584-010-9835-4

Tirivayi Nyasha Marco Knowles and Benjamin Davis 2013 lsquoThe Interaction between Social Protection and Agriculture A Review of Evidencersquo Rome Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations lthttpwwwfaoorg3a-i3563epdfgt Accessed 11 December 2020

UN Women 2019 lsquoTake Five ldquoThe Economic Participation of Rural Women Is Essential for Growth and a More Equitable Distribution of Wealthrdquorsquo United Nations Women (blog) lthttpswwwunwomenorgennewsstories20194take-five-maher-khalifigt Accessed 11 December 2020

UNDESA 2008 lsquoInternational Standard Industrial Classification of All Economic Activities (ISIC)rsquo Statistical papers No 4Rev4 New York United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs lthttpsunstatsunorgunsdpublicationseriesMseriesm_4rev4epdfgt Accessed 11 December 2020

______ 2018 lsquoWorld Urbanization Prospects The 2018 Revision Online Editionrsquo United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs Population Division lthttpspopulationunorgwupgt Accessed 11 December 2020

UNESCWA 2019 lsquoSocial Protection Reform in Arab Countriesrsquo Beirut Lebanon United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia lthttpswwwunescwaorgpublicationssocial-protection-reforms-arab-countries-2019gt Accessed 11 December 2020

WB nd lsquoData Sources and Methodologyrsquo TextHTML Washington D C World Bank lthttpswwwworldbankorgendatadatatopicsaspiredocumentationgt Accessed 4 September 2020

Webster Fiona and Stephanie Rosseau 2019 lsquoEgypt Consolidates Pension and Employee Social Insurance Lawrsquo Mercer (blog) lthttpsisgdRGMSvrgt Accessed 4 September 2020

Wenger Carole and Dalia Abulfotuh 2019 lsquoRural Migration in the Near East and North Africarsquo Cairo Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations lthttpwwwfaoorg3ca4751enCA4751ENpdfgt Accessed 4 September 2020

Winkler Hernan Elizabeth Ruppert Bulmer and Hilma Mote 2017 lsquoExpanding Social Insurance Coverage to Informal Workersrsquo Washington D C World Bank lthttpdocuments1worldbankorgcurateden798051502894913219pdf118728-NWP-PUBLIC-P164623-28p-ExpandingSocialInsuranceCoveragetoInformalWorkerspdfgt Accessed 4 September 2020

Woertz Eckart 2017 lsquoAgriculture and Development in the Wake of the Arab Springrsquo International Development Policy | Revue internationale de politique de deacuteveloppement No 7 (February) lthttpsdoiorg104000poldev2274gt Accessed 4 September 2020

World Bank 2007 lsquoWorld Development Report 2008 Agriculture for Developmentrsquo Washington DC World Bank lthttpssiteresourcesworldbankorgINTWDR2008ResourcesWDR_00_book pdfgt Accessed 4 September 2020

______ nd lsquoAgriculture Forestry and Fishing Value Added ( of GDP)rsquo DataBank lthttpsdataworldbankorgindicatorNVAGRTOTLZSgt Accessed 13 November 2020a

______ nd lsquoASPIRE Programme Classificationrsquo lthttppubdocsworldbankorgen340871485449612510ASPIRE-program-classificationpdfgt Accessed 9 December 2019b

Working Paper48

WWP 2016 lsquoRural Productive Inclusion Strategy in the ldquoBrazil without Extreme Poveryrdquorsquo World Without Poverty Initiative lthttpswwporgbrwp-contentuploads201612Brazil_without_extreme_poverty_rural_productive_inclusion_english_0pdfgt Accessed 11 December 2020

______ 2017a lsquoEnvironmental Conservation Support Program Bolsa Verde (Green Grant)rsquo Summary Sheet World Without Poverty Initiative lthttpswwporgbrwp-contentuploads01-Bolsa-Verde-Fact-Sheetpdfgt Accessed 11 December 2020

______ 2017b lsquoEnvironmental Conservation Support Program Fact Sheet Bolsa Verde (Green Grant)rsquo Fact Sheet World Without Poverty Initiative lthttpswwporgbrwp-contentuploads02-Bolsa-Verde-Program-Sheetpdfgt Accessed 11 December 2020

ANNEX 1 ILOacuteS RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONVENTIONSmdashINTERNATIONAL LABOUR STANDARDS

TABLE A1 Main International Labour Standards on social protectionmdashRecommendations

Recommendation number Title

R067 Income Security (1944)

R069 Medical Care (1944)

R121 Employment Injury Benefits (1964)

R131 Invalidity Old-Age and Survivorsrsquo Benefits (1967)

R134 Medical Care and Sickness Benefits (1969)

R167 Maintenance of Social Security Rights (1983)

R176 Employment Promotion and Protection against Unemployment (1988)

R191 Maternity Protection (2000)

R202 Social Protection Floors (2012)

R204 Transition from the Informal to the Formal Economy (2015)

R205 Employment and Decent Work for Peace and Resilience (2017)

Source (ILO 2017a nd)

TABLE A2 Main International Labour Standards on social protectionmdashConventions

Convention number Title Signatory countries in the NENA region

(in force)

C102 Social Security (Minimum Standards) (1952) Jordan Libya Mauritania Morocco

C118 Equality of Treatment Social Security (1962) Egypt Iraq Jordan Libya Mauritania Syria Tunisia

C121 Employment Injury Benefits (1964) Libya

C128 Invalidity Old-Age and Survivorsrsquo Benefits (1967) Libya

C130 Medical Care and Sickness Benefits (1969) Libya

C157 Maintenance of Social Security Rights (1982) None

C168 Employment Promotion and Protection against Unemployment (1988) None

C183 Maternity Protection (2000) Morocco

Working Paper50

TABLE A3 Main Conventions guaranteeing social insurance for agricultural workersConvention

number Title Signatory countries in the NENA region (in force)

C012 Workmenrsquos Compensation (Agriculture) (1921) Djibouti Morocco Tunisia

C025 Sickness Insurance (Agriculture) (1927) None

C036 Old-Age Insurance (Agriculture) (1933) Djibouti

C038 Invalidity Insurance (Agriculture) (1933) Djibouti

C040 Survivorsrsquo Insurance (Agriculture) (1933) None

C099 Minimum Wage Fixing Machinery (Agriculture) (1951) Algeria Djibouti Morocco Syria Tunisia

C101 Holidays with Pay (Agriculture) (1952) Algeria Djibouti Egypt Mauritania Morocco Syria

C184 Safety and Health in Agriculture Convention (2001) None

C188 Work in Fishing Convention (2007) Morocco

MLC 2006 Maritime Labour Convention (2006) Algeria Djibouti Iran Jordan Lebanon Morocco Sudan Tunisia

In accordance with Standard A45 (2) and (10) each government has specified the branches of social security Algeria medical care sickness benefit unemployment benefit old-age benefit employment injury benefit family benefit maternity benefit invalidity benefit and survivorsrsquo benefit Djibouti medical care sickness benefit old-age benefit employment injury benefit family benefit maternity benefit invalidity benefit and survivorsrsquo benefit Iran medical care sickness benefit old-age benefit and employment injury benefit Jordan old-age benefit invalidity benefit survivorsrsquo benefit employment injury benefit maternity benefit and unemployment benefit Lebanon sickness benefit maternity benefit family benefit and old-age benefit Morocco sickness benefit old-age benefit employment injury benefit family benefit maternity benefit invalidity benefit and survivorsrsquo benefit Sudan medical care sickness benefit and employment injury benefit Tunisia medical care sickness benefit old-age benefit employment injury benefit family benefit maternity benefit and invalidity benefit and survivorsrsquo benefit

Source ILO (nd)

ANNEX 2 SOCIAL INSURANCE SCHEMES BENEFITS AND SOCIAL PROTECTION TYPOLOGY

orsrsquo Old-age pension SI SI SI SI SI SI SI SI SI SI SI SI

Old-age settlement SI SI SI SI SI SI Disability pension SI SI SI SI SI SI SI SI SI SI SI SIDisability settlement SI SI SI (b)Disability benefit SI (a) Survivorsrsquo pension SI SI SI SI SI SI SI SI SI SI SI SISurvival settlement SI SI SI SI Death grant SI SI SI SI SI SI Death benefit SI(a) SI Funeral grant SI SI SI SI SI SI (c)

ss Cash maternity benefit SI SI SI SI SIEL SI SI EL EL SI EL

Pregnancy benefit SI Birth grant SI SI Prenatal allowance SI Parental leave SIEL SI Cash sickness benefit SI SI SI EL SI EL SI EL EL SI ELMedical benefits SI SI SI SA SI SI SIEL SISA SI UNI SI SA UNI

Temporary disability benefit SI SI SI SI EL SI SI EL SI SI Permanent disability benefit SI SI SI SI EL SI SI EL SI SI SI SIForeign worker settlement SI Disability settlement SI(b)Disability benefit SI(a) Disability grant SI Survival pension SI SI SI SI EL SI SI EL SI SI SI SIDeath grant SI SI SI Death benefit SI(a) Funeral grant SI SI SI EL SI EL SI SI

Medical benefits SI SI SI SI EL SI SI EL SI SI SI(c)

ent Unemployment benefit SI SI SI SI SI SA

Weather-related unemployment SI

s Family allowance SI SI SI UNI SI SI SI

School allowance SI

Marriage grant SI

Nursery school fees SI

Excluding self-employed workers (a) Voluntary insurance (b) Private sector programme only (c) Public sector programme only

Source ISSA (nd)

Working Paper52

ANNEX 3 EFFECTIVE COVERAGE ACCORDING TO THE WORLD SOCIAL PROTECTION REPORT (ILO) (SDG INDICATOR 131)

ith se

hellip

teacutego

acircgeacute

beacuteneacute

ires d

e lrsquoA

004mdash

rt ndash

tistic

International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth 53A

ises t

lidity

srsquo

t of s

l allo

t of f

srsquo

eficit

Working Paper54

srsquo si

cial d

orsrsquo)

l of c

l driv

errsquos

ributi

cial d

eficit

srsquo

s of w

t of c

eficit

errsquos

ributi

eficit

srsquo si

redrsquo

lidity

srsquo) 8

l (sic

srsquo si

) of c

ndash ca

srsquo1

(SI ndash

fits a

L - ca

ical b

Working Paper56

srsquo3

ical b

s or p

srsquo w

(inclu

ical b

s as n

srsquo

t of c

ical b

srsquo4

rly in

rsquos re

ributi

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t of c

fits (

lic se

International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth (IPC-IG)

SBS Quadra 1 Bloco J Ed BNDES 13ordm andar70076-900 Brasiacutelia DF - BrazilTelephone +55 61 2105 5000

ipcipc-undporg wwwipcigorg CB3150EN10321

ISBN 978-92-5-133912-1

9 7 8 9 2 5 1 3 3 9 1 2 1

Box 1 Key concepts

Box 2 COVID-19rsquos consequences to informal workers and policy responses

Box 3 Moroccorsquos subsidies to the Mutuelle Agricole Marocaine drsquoAssurances

Box 4 Problems with voluntary coverage of social insurance schemes

Box 5 Social protection to small-scale fishers gradual legal inclusion and the importance of subsidies

Figure 1 Projected evolution of the rural and urban populations in the NENA region total and across three subregions 1950-2050

Figure 2 Employment in agriculture (as a share of total employment) Arab World 1991-2019

Figure 3 Agriculture forestry and fishing value added (as a percentage of GDP) Arab World 1975-2017

Figure 4 Employment in agriculture (as a share of total employment) and value added (as a share of GDP) of the agricultural sector per country as of 2017

Figure 5 Urban and rural poverty headcount rates evaluated at the national poverty line selected NENA countries

Figure 6 FAOrsquos social protection framework

Figure 7 Proportion of the population covered by social protection systems (as a percentage)

Table 1 Mean nominal monthly earnings of employees by economic activity (in 2017 USD PPP)

Table 2 Main risks and vulnerabilities faced by rural communities

Table 3 Potentialities of social protection in rural areas

Table 4 Social insurance indicators rural and urban areas

Table 5 Explicit legal exclusions and inclusions of agricultural workers in contributory social protection schemes in the NENA region (selected countries)

Table A1 Main International Labour Standards on social protectionmdashRecommendations

Table A2 Main International Labour Standards on social protectionmdashConventions

Table A3 Main Conventions guaranteeing social insurance for agricultural workers

Acknowledgements

1enspIntroduction

2enspBackground urban-rural inequalities and the importance of social protection for rural areas

21 Agricultural sector in the NENA region

22 The urban-rural division in the NENA region

23 Why is social protection important for rural areas

3enspTaking stock of contributory schemes in NENA

31 Overview of social protection systemsmdasha focus on social insurance

32 Agricultural insurance

4enspChallenges for the expansion of social protection in the NENA region and best practices to overcome them

41 Lack of data

42 Legal framework and programme design

43 Financial barriers

44 Administrative and institutional barriers

45 Participation and information challenges

5enspConclusions

References

International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth (IPC-IG) Working Paper No 189The state of social insurance for agricultural workers in the Near East and North Africa and challenges for expansionBy Lucas Sato

Published by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the United Nations Development Programme

Developed in Brazil by the International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth (IPC-IG)

The International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth is jointly supported by the United Nations Development Programme and the Government of Brazil

International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth (IPC-IG)SBS Quadra 1 Bloco J Ed BNDES 13ordm andar70076-900 Brasiacutelia DF - BrazilTelephone +55 61 2105 5000

ipcipcigorg wwwipcigorg

The IPC-IG is a partnership between the United Nations and the Government of Brazil to promote learning on social policies The Centre specialises in research-based policy recommendations to foster the reduction of poverty and inequality as well as promote inclusive growth The IPC-IG is linked to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Brazil the Ministry of Economy (ME) and the Institute for Applied Economic Research (Ipea) of the Government of Brazil

The designations employed and the presentation of material in this information product do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Food and AgricultureOrganization of the United Nations (FAO) or of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) concerning the legal or development status of any country territory city or area or of its authorities or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries The mention of specific companies or products of manufacturers whether or not these have been patented does not imply that thesehave been endorsed or recommended by FAO or UNDP in preference to others of a similar naturethat are not mentioned The views expressed in this information product are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of FAO or UNDP

FAO and UNDP encourage the use reproduction and dissemination of material in this information productExcept where otherwise indicated material may be copied downloaded and printed for private studyresearch and teaching purposes or for use in non-commercial products or services provided thatappropriate acknowledgment of FAO and UNDP as the sources and copyright holders is given and that neither FAO nor UNDP endorsement of usersrsquo views products or services is implied in any way

All requests for translation and adaptation rights and for resale and other commercial use rightsshould be made via wwwfaoorgcontact-uslicence-request or addressed to copyrightfaoorg

FAO information products are available on the FAO website (wwwfaoorgpublications) and can be purchased through publications-salesfaoorg

UNDPIPC-IG publications are available online at wwwipcigorgpublications free of charge

ISBN 978-92-5-133912-1 [FAO]

copy FAO and UNDP 2021

IPC-IG Working Papers are available online at wwwipcigorg and subscriptions can be requested by email to ipcipc-undporg

Suggested citation Sato L 2021 The state of social insurance for agricultural workers in the Near East and North Africa and challenges for expansion Brasiacutelia Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth Available at lthttpsdoiorg104060cb3150engt

CONTENTS

Acknowledgements 5

1 Introduction 6

41 Lack of data 28

5 Conclusions 38

References 41

LIST OF TABLES

LIST OF FIGURES

LIST OF BOXES

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Lucas Sato1

1 INTRODUCTION

Working Paper8

BOX 1 Key concepts

Working Paper10

Maghreb ndash Rural

Maghreb ndash Urban

Mashreq ndash Rural

Mashreq ndash Urban

GCC+Y ndash Rural

GCC+Y ndash Urban

NENA ndash Rural

NENA ndash Urban

300000

200000

100000

400000

500000

Working Paper12

00 100 200 300 400 500 600

Mauritania

Morocco

Arab World

Lebanon

Tunisia

Algeria

Saudi Arabia

Jordan

Kuwait

Bahrain

Working Paper14

UAE 30173 6918

Egypt 5923 5868

Qatar 39282 1835

Yemen 5418 3351

323 306

369401

153 148 139

265308

Algeria(2011)

Egypt(2010)

Iraq(2012)

Jordan(2010)

Mauritania(2008)

Morocco(2007)

Sudan(2009)

Syria(2007)

Yemen(2005)

Working Paper16

Working Paper18

a choice

Source FAO (2017)

Working Paper20

Working Paper22

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Egypt (2016)

Iran (2019)

Tunsia (2017)

Iran (2019)

Jordan (2010)

Iran (2019)

Egypt (2016)

Algeria (2016)

Bahrain (2011)

Iran (2019)

Jordan (2010)

Qatar (2016)

Sudan (2017)

Tunisia (2017)

Yemen (2011)

Algeria (2016)

Iran (2019)

Qatar (2016)

Sudan (2017)

Tunisia (2017)

(2008)Egypt (2008)

Jordan (2010)

SIRural 15 21 44

Urban 22 47 64

SARural 19 02 06

Urban 31 03 05

SIRural 147 281 364

Urban 265 734 262

SARural 158 52 102

Urban 409 79 104

Working Paper24

Working Paper26

Working Paper28

41 LACK OF DATA

Working Paper30

Algeria

ii Work injury

SI ndash Rural

ii Work injury

iii Unemployment

SI ndash General

ii Unemployment

Jordan

ii Work injury

employed workers

Lebanon

Libya SI

iii Work injury

Mauritania

ii Work injury

Morocco

iv Unemployment

EL Work injury

ii Work injury

workers

Working Paper32

Tunisia

low-income earners

SI Work injury

SI Family allowance

SurvivorsrsquoNA

Working Paper34

Working Paper36

Working Paper38

5 CONCLUSIONS

Working Paper40

REFERENCES

Working Paper42

Working Paper44

Working Paper46

Working Paper48

(in force)

Working Paper50

Source ILO (nd)

School allowance SI

Marriage grant SI

Source ISSA (nd)

Working Paper52

ith se

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Working Paper56

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ributi

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ISBN 978-92-5-133912-1

9 7 8 9 2 5 1 3 3 9 1 2 1

Box 1 Key concepts

Acknowledgements

1enspIntroduction








41 Lack of data





5enspConclusions

References

CONTENTS

Acknowledgements 5

1 Introduction 6

41 Lack of data 28

5 Conclusions 38

References 41

LIST OF TABLES

LIST OF FIGURES

LIST OF BOXES

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Lucas Sato1

1 INTRODUCTION

Working Paper8

BOX 1 Key concepts

Working Paper10

Maghreb ndash Rural

Maghreb ndash Urban

Mashreq ndash Rural

Mashreq ndash Urban

GCC+Y ndash Rural

GCC+Y ndash Urban

NENA ndash Rural

NENA ndash Urban

300000

200000

100000

400000

500000

Working Paper12

00 100 200 300 400 500 600

Mauritania

Morocco

Arab World

Lebanon

Tunisia

Algeria

Saudi Arabia

Jordan

Kuwait

Bahrain

Working Paper14

UAE 30173 6918

Egypt 5923 5868

Qatar 39282 1835

Yemen 5418 3351

323 306

369401

153 148 139

265308

Algeria(2011)

Egypt(2010)

Iraq(2012)

Jordan(2010)

Mauritania(2008)

Morocco(2007)

Sudan(2009)

Syria(2007)

Yemen(2005)

Working Paper16

Working Paper18

a choice

Source FAO (2017)

Working Paper20

Working Paper22

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Egypt (2016)

Iran (2019)

Tunsia (2017)

Iran (2019)

Jordan (2010)

Iran (2019)

Egypt (2016)

Algeria (2016)

Bahrain (2011)

Iran (2019)

Jordan (2010)

Qatar (2016)

Sudan (2017)

Tunisia (2017)

Yemen (2011)

Algeria (2016)

Iran (2019)

Qatar (2016)

Sudan (2017)

Tunisia (2017)

(2008)Egypt (2008)

Jordan (2010)

SIRural 15 21 44

Urban 22 47 64

SARural 19 02 06

Urban 31 03 05

SIRural 147 281 364

Urban 265 734 262

SARural 158 52 102

Urban 409 79 104

Working Paper24

Working Paper26

Working Paper28

41 LACK OF DATA

Working Paper30

Algeria

ii Work injury

SI ndash Rural

ii Work injury

iii Unemployment

SI ndash General

ii Unemployment

Jordan

ii Work injury

employed workers

Lebanon

Libya SI

iii Work injury

Mauritania

ii Work injury

Morocco

iv Unemployment

EL Work injury

ii Work injury

workers

Working Paper32

Tunisia

low-income earners

SI Work injury

SI Family allowance

SurvivorsrsquoNA

Working Paper34

Working Paper36

Working Paper38

5 CONCLUSIONS

Working Paper40

REFERENCES

Working Paper42

Working Paper44

Working Paper46

Working Paper48

(in force)

Working Paper50

Source ILO (nd)

School allowance SI

Marriage grant SI

Source ISSA (nd)

Working Paper52

ith se

hellip

teacutego

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beacuteneacute

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e lrsquoA

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lidity

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Working Paper54

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Working Paper56

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s or p

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ical b

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ributi

srsquo

t of c

fits (

lic se

ISBN 978-92-5-133912-1

9 7 8 9 2 5 1 3 3 9 1 2 1

Box 1 Key concepts

Acknowledgements

1enspIntroduction








41 Lack of data





5enspConclusions

References

LIST OF TABLES

LIST OF FIGURES

LIST OF BOXES

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Lucas Sato1

1 INTRODUCTION

Working Paper8

BOX 1 Key concepts

Working Paper10

Maghreb ndash Rural

Maghreb ndash Urban

Mashreq ndash Rural

Mashreq ndash Urban

GCC+Y ndash Rural

GCC+Y ndash Urban

NENA ndash Rural

NENA ndash Urban

300000

200000

100000

400000

500000

Working Paper12

00 100 200 300 400 500 600

Mauritania

Morocco

Arab World

Lebanon

Tunisia

Algeria

Saudi Arabia

Jordan

Kuwait

Bahrain

Working Paper14

UAE 30173 6918

Egypt 5923 5868

Qatar 39282 1835

Yemen 5418 3351

323 306

369401

153 148 139

265308

Algeria(2011)

Egypt(2010)

Iraq(2012)

Jordan(2010)

Mauritania(2008)

Morocco(2007)

Sudan(2009)

Syria(2007)

Yemen(2005)

Working Paper16

Working Paper18

a choice

Source FAO (2017)

Working Paper20

Working Paper22

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Egypt (2016)

Iran (2019)

Tunsia (2017)

Iran (2019)

Jordan (2010)

Iran (2019)

Egypt (2016)

Algeria (2016)

Bahrain (2011)

Iran (2019)

Jordan (2010)

Qatar (2016)

Sudan (2017)

Tunisia (2017)

Yemen (2011)

Algeria (2016)

Iran (2019)

Qatar (2016)

Sudan (2017)

Tunisia (2017)

(2008)Egypt (2008)

Jordan (2010)

SIRural 15 21 44

Urban 22 47 64

SARural 19 02 06

Urban 31 03 05

SIRural 147 281 364

Urban 265 734 262

SARural 158 52 102

Urban 409 79 104

Working Paper24

Working Paper26

Working Paper28

41 LACK OF DATA

Working Paper30

Algeria

ii Work injury

SI ndash Rural

ii Work injury

iii Unemployment

SI ndash General

ii Unemployment

Jordan

ii Work injury

employed workers

Lebanon

Libya SI

iii Work injury

Mauritania

ii Work injury

Morocco

iv Unemployment

EL Work injury

ii Work injury

workers

Working Paper32

Tunisia

low-income earners

SI Work injury

SI Family allowance

SurvivorsrsquoNA

Working Paper34

Working Paper36

Working Paper38

5 CONCLUSIONS

Working Paper40

REFERENCES

Working Paper42

Working Paper44

Working Paper46

Working Paper48

(in force)

Working Paper50

Source ILO (nd)

School allowance SI

Marriage grant SI

Source ISSA (nd)

Working Paper52

ith se

hellip

teacutego

acircgeacute

beacuteneacute

ires d

e lrsquoA

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tistic

ises t

lidity

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Working Paper54

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cial d

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eficit

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Working Paper56

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ical b

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ributi

srsquo

t of c

fits (

lic se

ISBN 978-92-5-133912-1

9 7 8 9 2 5 1 3 3 9 1 2 1

Box 1 Key concepts

Acknowledgements

1enspIntroduction








41 Lack of data





5enspConclusions

References

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Lucas Sato1

1 INTRODUCTION

Working Paper8

BOX 1 Key concepts

Working Paper10

Maghreb ndash Rural

Maghreb ndash Urban

Mashreq ndash Rural

Mashreq ndash Urban

GCC+Y ndash Rural

GCC+Y ndash Urban

NENA ndash Rural

NENA ndash Urban

300000

200000

100000

400000

500000

Working Paper12

00 100 200 300 400 500 600

Mauritania

Morocco

Arab World

Lebanon

Tunisia

Algeria

Saudi Arabia

Jordan

Kuwait

Bahrain

Working Paper14

UAE 30173 6918

Egypt 5923 5868

Qatar 39282 1835

Yemen 5418 3351

323 306

369401

153 148 139

265308

Algeria(2011)

Egypt(2010)

Iraq(2012)

Jordan(2010)

Mauritania(2008)

Morocco(2007)

Sudan(2009)

Syria(2007)

Yemen(2005)

Working Paper16

Working Paper18

a choice

Source FAO (2017)

Working Paper20

Working Paper22

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Egypt (2016)

Iran (2019)

Tunsia (2017)

Iran (2019)

Jordan (2010)

Iran (2019)

Egypt (2016)

Algeria (2016)

Bahrain (2011)

Iran (2019)

Jordan (2010)

Qatar (2016)

Sudan (2017)

Tunisia (2017)

Yemen (2011)

Algeria (2016)

Iran (2019)

Qatar (2016)

Sudan (2017)

Tunisia (2017)

(2008)Egypt (2008)

Jordan (2010)

SIRural 15 21 44

Urban 22 47 64

SARural 19 02 06

Urban 31 03 05

SIRural 147 281 364

Urban 265 734 262

SARural 158 52 102

Urban 409 79 104

Working Paper24

Working Paper26

Working Paper28

41 LACK OF DATA

Working Paper30

Algeria

ii Work injury

SI ndash Rural

ii Work injury

iii Unemployment

SI ndash General

ii Unemployment

Jordan

ii Work injury

employed workers

Lebanon

Libya SI

iii Work injury

Mauritania

ii Work injury

Morocco

iv Unemployment

EL Work injury

ii Work injury

workers

Working Paper32

Tunisia

low-income earners

SI Work injury

SI Family allowance

SurvivorsrsquoNA

Working Paper34

Working Paper36

Working Paper38

5 CONCLUSIONS

Working Paper40

REFERENCES

Working Paper42

Working Paper44

Working Paper46

Working Paper48

(in force)

Working Paper50

Source ILO (nd)

School allowance SI

Marriage grant SI

Source ISSA (nd)

Working Paper52

ith se

hellip

teacutego

acircgeacute

beacuteneacute

ires d

e lrsquoA

004mdash

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tistic

ises t

lidity

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Working Paper54

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cial d

orsrsquo)

l of c

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cial d

eficit

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s of w

t of c

eficit

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eficit

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l (sic

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) of c

ndash ca

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ical b

Working Paper56

srsquo3

ical b

s or p

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ical b

s as n

srsquo

t of c

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ributi

srsquo

t of c

fits (

lic se

ISBN 978-92-5-133912-1

9 7 8 9 2 5 1 3 3 9 1 2 1

Box 1 Key concepts

Acknowledgements

1enspIntroduction








41 Lack of data





5enspConclusions

References

Lucas Sato1

1 INTRODUCTION

Working Paper8

BOX 1 Key concepts

Working Paper10

Maghreb ndash Rural

Maghreb ndash Urban

Mashreq ndash Rural

Mashreq ndash Urban

GCC+Y ndash Rural

GCC+Y ndash Urban

NENA ndash Rural

NENA ndash Urban

300000

200000

100000

400000

500000

Working Paper12

00 100 200 300 400 500 600

Mauritania

Morocco

Arab World

Lebanon

Tunisia

Algeria

Saudi Arabia

Jordan

Kuwait

Bahrain

Working Paper14

UAE 30173 6918

Egypt 5923 5868

Qatar 39282 1835

Yemen 5418 3351

323 306

369401

153 148 139

265308

Algeria(2011)

Egypt(2010)

Iraq(2012)

Jordan(2010)

Mauritania(2008)

Morocco(2007)

Sudan(2009)

Syria(2007)

Yemen(2005)

Working Paper16

Working Paper18

a choice

Source FAO (2017)

Working Paper20

Working Paper22

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Egypt (2016)

Iran (2019)

Tunsia (2017)

Iran (2019)

Jordan (2010)

Iran (2019)

Egypt (2016)

Algeria (2016)

Bahrain (2011)

Iran (2019)

Jordan (2010)

Qatar (2016)

Sudan (2017)

Tunisia (2017)

Yemen (2011)

Algeria (2016)

Iran (2019)

Qatar (2016)

Sudan (2017)

Tunisia (2017)

(2008)Egypt (2008)

Jordan (2010)

SIRural 15 21 44

Urban 22 47 64

SARural 19 02 06

Urban 31 03 05

SIRural 147 281 364

Urban 265 734 262

SARural 158 52 102

Urban 409 79 104

Working Paper24

Working Paper26

Working Paper28

41 LACK OF DATA

Working Paper30

Algeria

ii Work injury

SI ndash Rural

ii Work injury

iii Unemployment

SI ndash General

ii Unemployment

Jordan

ii Work injury

employed workers

Lebanon

Libya SI

iii Work injury

Mauritania

ii Work injury

Morocco

iv Unemployment

EL Work injury

ii Work injury

workers

Working Paper32

Tunisia

low-income earners

SI Work injury

SI Family allowance

SurvivorsrsquoNA

Working Paper34

Working Paper36

Working Paper38

5 CONCLUSIONS

Working Paper40

REFERENCES

Working Paper42

Working Paper44

Working Paper46

Working Paper48

(in force)

Working Paper50

Source ILO (nd)

School allowance SI

Marriage grant SI

Source ISSA (nd)

Working Paper52

ith se

hellip

teacutego

acircgeacute

beacuteneacute

ires d

e lrsquoA

004mdash

rt ndash

tistic

ises t

lidity

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l allo

t of f

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eficit

Working Paper54

srsquo si

cial d

orsrsquo)

l of c

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ributi

cial d

eficit

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s of w

t of c

eficit

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ributi

eficit

srsquo si

redrsquo

lidity

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l (sic

srsquo si

) of c

ndash ca

srsquo1

(SI ndash

fits a

L - ca

ical b

Working Paper56

srsquo3

ical b

s or p

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(inclu

ical b

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ributi

srsquo

t of c

fits (

lic se

ISBN 978-92-5-133912-1

9 7 8 9 2 5 1 3 3 9 1 2 1

Box 1 Key concepts

Acknowledgements

1enspIntroduction








41 Lack of data





5enspConclusions

References

Working Paper8

BOX 1 Key concepts

Working Paper10

Maghreb ndash Rural

Maghreb ndash Urban

Mashreq ndash Rural

Mashreq ndash Urban

GCC+Y ndash Rural

GCC+Y ndash Urban

NENA ndash Rural

NENA ndash Urban

300000

200000

100000

400000

500000

Working Paper12

00 100 200 300 400 500 600

Mauritania

Morocco

Arab World

Lebanon

Tunisia

Algeria

Saudi Arabia

Jordan

Kuwait

Bahrain

Working Paper14

UAE 30173 6918

Egypt 5923 5868

Qatar 39282 1835

Yemen 5418 3351

323 306

369401

153 148 139

265308

Algeria(2011)

Egypt(2010)

Iraq(2012)

Jordan(2010)

Mauritania(2008)

Morocco(2007)

Sudan(2009)

Syria(2007)

Yemen(2005)

Working Paper16

Working Paper18

a choice

Source FAO (2017)

Working Paper20

Working Paper22

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Egypt (2016)

Iran (2019)

Tunsia (2017)

Iran (2019)

Jordan (2010)

Iran (2019)

Egypt (2016)

Algeria (2016)

Bahrain (2011)

Iran (2019)

Jordan (2010)

Qatar (2016)

Sudan (2017)

Tunisia (2017)

Yemen (2011)

Algeria (2016)

Iran (2019)

Qatar (2016)

Sudan (2017)

Tunisia (2017)

(2008)Egypt (2008)

Jordan (2010)

SIRural 15 21 44

Urban 22 47 64

SARural 19 02 06

Urban 31 03 05

SIRural 147 281 364

Urban 265 734 262

SARural 158 52 102

Urban 409 79 104

Working Paper24

Working Paper26

Working Paper28

41 LACK OF DATA

Working Paper30

Algeria

ii Work injury

SI ndash Rural

ii Work injury

iii Unemployment

SI ndash General

ii Unemployment

Jordan

ii Work injury

employed workers

Lebanon

Libya SI

iii Work injury

Mauritania

ii Work injury

Morocco

iv Unemployment

EL Work injury

ii Work injury

workers

Working Paper32

Tunisia

low-income earners

SI Work injury

SI Family allowance

SurvivorsrsquoNA

Working Paper34

Working Paper36

Working Paper38

5 CONCLUSIONS

Working Paper40

REFERENCES

Working Paper42

Working Paper44

Working Paper46

Working Paper48

(in force)

Working Paper50

Source ILO (nd)

School allowance SI

Marriage grant SI

Source ISSA (nd)

Working Paper52

ith se

hellip

teacutego

acircgeacute

beacuteneacute

ires d

e lrsquoA

004mdash

rt ndash

tistic

ises t

lidity

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Working Paper54

srsquo si

cial d

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l of c

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cial d

eficit

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s of w

t of c

eficit

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ributi

eficit

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redrsquo

lidity

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l (sic

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ndash ca

srsquo1

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Working Paper56

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ical b

s or p

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ical b

s as n

srsquo

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rsquos re

ributi

srsquo

t of c

fits (

lic se

ISBN 978-92-5-133912-1

9 7 8 9 2 5 1 3 3 9 1 2 1

Box 1 Key concepts

Acknowledgements

1enspIntroduction








41 Lack of data





5enspConclusions

References

Working Paper8

BOX 1 Key concepts

Working Paper10

Maghreb ndash Rural

Maghreb ndash Urban

Mashreq ndash Rural

Mashreq ndash Urban

GCC+Y ndash Rural

GCC+Y ndash Urban

NENA ndash Rural

NENA ndash Urban

300000

200000

100000

400000

500000

Working Paper12

00 100 200 300 400 500 600

Mauritania

Morocco

Arab World

Lebanon

Tunisia

Algeria

Saudi Arabia

Jordan

Kuwait

Bahrain

Working Paper14

UAE 30173 6918

Egypt 5923 5868

Qatar 39282 1835

Yemen 5418 3351

323 306

369401

153 148 139

265308

Algeria(2011)

Egypt(2010)

Iraq(2012)

Jordan(2010)

Mauritania(2008)

Morocco(2007)

Sudan(2009)

Syria(2007)

Yemen(2005)

Working Paper16

Working Paper18

a choice

Source FAO (2017)

Working Paper20

Working Paper22

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Egypt (2016)

Iran (2019)

Tunsia (2017)

Iran (2019)

Jordan (2010)

Iran (2019)

Egypt (2016)

Algeria (2016)

Bahrain (2011)

Iran (2019)

Jordan (2010)

Qatar (2016)

Sudan (2017)

Tunisia (2017)

Yemen (2011)

Algeria (2016)

Iran (2019)

Qatar (2016)

Sudan (2017)

Tunisia (2017)

(2008)Egypt (2008)

Jordan (2010)

SIRural 15 21 44

Urban 22 47 64

SARural 19 02 06

Urban 31 03 05

SIRural 147 281 364

Urban 265 734 262

SARural 158 52 102

Urban 409 79 104

Working Paper24

Working Paper26

Working Paper28

41 LACK OF DATA

Working Paper30

Algeria

ii Work injury

SI ndash Rural

ii Work injury

iii Unemployment

SI ndash General

ii Unemployment

Jordan

ii Work injury

employed workers

Lebanon

Libya SI

iii Work injury

Mauritania

ii Work injury

Morocco

iv Unemployment

EL Work injury

ii Work injury

workers

Working Paper32

Tunisia

low-income earners

SI Work injury

SI Family allowance

SurvivorsrsquoNA

Working Paper34

Working Paper36

Working Paper38

5 CONCLUSIONS

Working Paper40

REFERENCES

Working Paper42

Working Paper44

Working Paper46

Working Paper48

(in force)

Working Paper50

Source ILO (nd)

School allowance SI

Marriage grant SI

Source ISSA (nd)

Working Paper52

ith se

hellip

teacutego

acircgeacute

beacuteneacute

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e lrsquoA

004mdash

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Working Paper54

srsquo si

cial d

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l of c

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Working Paper56

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ISBN 978-92-5-133912-1

9 7 8 9 2 5 1 3 3 9 1 2 1

Box 1 Key concepts

Acknowledgements

1enspIntroduction








41 Lack of data





5enspConclusions

References

BOX 1 Key concepts

Working Paper10

Maghreb ndash Rural

Maghreb ndash Urban

Mashreq ndash Rural

Mashreq ndash Urban

GCC+Y ndash Rural

GCC+Y ndash Urban

NENA ndash Rural

NENA ndash Urban

300000

200000

100000

400000

500000

Working Paper12

00 100 200 300 400 500 600

Mauritania

Morocco

Arab World

Lebanon

Tunisia

Algeria

Saudi Arabia

Jordan

Kuwait

Bahrain

Working Paper14

UAE 30173 6918

Egypt 5923 5868

Qatar 39282 1835

Yemen 5418 3351

323 306

369401

153 148 139

265308

Algeria(2011)

Egypt(2010)

Iraq(2012)

Jordan(2010)

Mauritania(2008)

Morocco(2007)

Sudan(2009)

Syria(2007)

Yemen(2005)

Working Paper16

Working Paper18

a choice

Source FAO (2017)

Working Paper20

Working Paper22

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Egypt (2016)

Iran (2019)

Tunsia (2017)

Iran (2019)

Jordan (2010)

Iran (2019)

Egypt (2016)

Algeria (2016)

Bahrain (2011)

Iran (2019)

Jordan (2010)

Qatar (2016)

Sudan (2017)

Tunisia (2017)

Yemen (2011)

Algeria (2016)

Iran (2019)

Qatar (2016)

Sudan (2017)

Tunisia (2017)

(2008)Egypt (2008)

Jordan (2010)

SIRural 15 21 44

Urban 22 47 64

SARural 19 02 06

Urban 31 03 05

SIRural 147 281 364

Urban 265 734 262

SARural 158 52 102

Urban 409 79 104

Working Paper24

Working Paper26

Working Paper28

41 LACK OF DATA

Working Paper30

Algeria

ii Work injury

SI ndash Rural

ii Work injury

iii Unemployment

SI ndash General

ii Unemployment

Jordan

ii Work injury

employed workers

Lebanon

Libya SI

iii Work injury

Mauritania

ii Work injury

Morocco

iv Unemployment

EL Work injury

ii Work injury

workers

Working Paper32

Tunisia

low-income earners

SI Work injury

SI Family allowance

SurvivorsrsquoNA

Working Paper34

Working Paper36

Working Paper38

5 CONCLUSIONS

Working Paper40

REFERENCES

Working Paper42

Working Paper44

Working Paper46

Working Paper48

(in force)

Working Paper50

Source ILO (nd)

School allowance SI

Marriage grant SI

Source ISSA (nd)

Working Paper52

ith se

hellip

teacutego

acircgeacute

beacuteneacute

ires d

e lrsquoA

004mdash

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tistic

ises t

lidity

srsquo

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srsquo

eficit

Working Paper54

srsquo si

cial d

orsrsquo)

l of c

l driv

errsquos

ributi

cial d

eficit

srsquo

s of w

t of c

eficit

errsquos

ributi

eficit

srsquo si

redrsquo

lidity

srsquo) 8

l (sic

srsquo si

) of c

ndash ca

srsquo1

(SI ndash

fits a

L - ca

ical b

Working Paper56

srsquo3

ical b

s or p

srsquo w

(inclu

ical b

s as n

srsquo

t of c

ical b

srsquo4

rly in

rsquos re

ributi

srsquo

t of c

fits (

lic se

ISBN 978-92-5-133912-1

9 7 8 9 2 5 1 3 3 9 1 2 1

Box 1 Key concepts

Acknowledgements

1enspIntroduction








41 Lack of data





5enspConclusions

References

Working Paper10

Maghreb ndash Rural

Maghreb ndash Urban

Mashreq ndash Rural

Mashreq ndash Urban

GCC+Y ndash Rural

GCC+Y ndash Urban

NENA ndash Rural

NENA ndash Urban

300000

200000

100000

400000

500000

Working Paper12

00 100 200 300 400 500 600

Mauritania

Morocco

Arab World

Lebanon

Tunisia

Algeria

Saudi Arabia

Jordan

Kuwait

Bahrain

Working Paper14

UAE 30173 6918

Egypt 5923 5868

Qatar 39282 1835

Yemen 5418 3351

323 306

369401

153 148 139

265308

Algeria(2011)

Egypt(2010)

Iraq(2012)

Jordan(2010)

Mauritania(2008)

Morocco(2007)

Sudan(2009)

Syria(2007)

Yemen(2005)

Working Paper16

Working Paper18

a choice

Source FAO (2017)

Working Paper20

Working Paper22

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Egypt (2016)

Iran (2019)

Tunsia (2017)

Iran (2019)

Jordan (2010)

Iran (2019)

Egypt (2016)

Algeria (2016)

Bahrain (2011)

Iran (2019)

Jordan (2010)

Qatar (2016)

Sudan (2017)

Tunisia (2017)

Yemen (2011)

Algeria (2016)

Iran (2019)

Qatar (2016)

Sudan (2017)

Tunisia (2017)

(2008)Egypt (2008)

Jordan (2010)

SIRural 15 21 44

Urban 22 47 64

SARural 19 02 06

Urban 31 03 05

SIRural 147 281 364

Urban 265 734 262

SARural 158 52 102

Urban 409 79 104

Working Paper24

Working Paper26

Working Paper28

41 LACK OF DATA

Working Paper30

Algeria

ii Work injury

SI ndash Rural

ii Work injury

iii Unemployment

SI ndash General

ii Unemployment

Jordan

ii Work injury

employed workers

Lebanon

Libya SI

iii Work injury

Mauritania

ii Work injury

Morocco

iv Unemployment

EL Work injury

ii Work injury

workers

Working Paper32

Tunisia

low-income earners

SI Work injury

SI Family allowance

SurvivorsrsquoNA

Working Paper34

Working Paper36

Working Paper38

5 CONCLUSIONS

Working Paper40

REFERENCES

Working Paper42

Working Paper44

Working Paper46

Working Paper48

(in force)

Working Paper50

Source ILO (nd)

School allowance SI

Marriage grant SI

Source ISSA (nd)

Working Paper52

ith se

hellip

teacutego

acircgeacute

beacuteneacute

ires d

e lrsquoA

004mdash

rt ndash

tistic

ises t

lidity

srsquo

t of s

l allo

t of f

srsquo

eficit

Working Paper54

srsquo si

cial d

orsrsquo)

l of c

l driv

errsquos

ributi

cial d

eficit

srsquo

s of w

t of c

eficit

errsquos

ributi

eficit

srsquo si

redrsquo

lidity

srsquo) 8

l (sic

srsquo si

) of c

ndash ca

srsquo1

(SI ndash

fits a

L - ca

ical b

Working Paper56

srsquo3

ical b

s or p

srsquo w

(inclu

ical b

s as n

srsquo

t of c

ical b

srsquo4

rly in

rsquos re

ributi

srsquo

t of c

fits (

lic se

ISBN 978-92-5-133912-1

9 7 8 9 2 5 1 3 3 9 1 2 1

Box 1 Key concepts

Acknowledgements

1enspIntroduction








41 Lack of data





5enspConclusions

References

Maghreb ndash Rural

Maghreb ndash Urban

Mashreq ndash Rural

Mashreq ndash Urban

GCC+Y ndash Rural

GCC+Y ndash Urban

NENA ndash Rural

NENA ndash Urban

300000

200000

100000

400000

500000

Working Paper12

00 100 200 300 400 500 600

Mauritania

Morocco

Arab World

Lebanon

Tunisia

Algeria

Saudi Arabia

Jordan

Kuwait

Bahrain

Working Paper14

UAE 30173 6918

Egypt 5923 5868

Qatar 39282 1835

Yemen 5418 3351

323 306

369401

153 148 139

265308

Algeria(2011)

Egypt(2010)

Iraq(2012)

Jordan(2010)

Mauritania(2008)

Morocco(2007)

Sudan(2009)

Syria(2007)

Yemen(2005)

Working Paper16

Working Paper18

a choice

Source FAO (2017)

Working Paper20

Working Paper22

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Egypt (2016)

Iran (2019)

Tunsia (2017)

Iran (2019)

Jordan (2010)

Iran (2019)

Egypt (2016)

Algeria (2016)

Bahrain (2011)

Iran (2019)

Jordan (2010)

Qatar (2016)

Sudan (2017)

Tunisia (2017)

Yemen (2011)

Algeria (2016)

Iran (2019)

Qatar (2016)

Sudan (2017)

Tunisia (2017)

(2008)Egypt (2008)

Jordan (2010)

SIRural 15 21 44

Urban 22 47 64

SARural 19 02 06

Urban 31 03 05

SIRural 147 281 364

Urban 265 734 262

SARural 158 52 102

Urban 409 79 104

Working Paper24

Working Paper26

Working Paper28

41 LACK OF DATA

Working Paper30

Algeria

ii Work injury

SI ndash Rural

ii Work injury

iii Unemployment

SI ndash General

ii Unemployment

Jordan

ii Work injury

employed workers

Lebanon

Libya SI

iii Work injury

Mauritania

ii Work injury

Morocco

iv Unemployment

EL Work injury

ii Work injury

workers

Working Paper32

Tunisia

low-income earners

SI Work injury

SI Family allowance

SurvivorsrsquoNA

Working Paper34

Working Paper36

Working Paper38

5 CONCLUSIONS

Working Paper40

REFERENCES

Working Paper42

Working Paper44

Working Paper46

Working Paper48

(in force)

Working Paper50

Source ILO (nd)

School allowance SI

Marriage grant SI

Source ISSA (nd)

Working Paper52

ith se

hellip

teacutego

acircgeacute

beacuteneacute

ires d

e lrsquoA

004mdash

rt ndash

tistic

ises t

lidity

srsquo

t of s

l allo

t of f

srsquo

eficit

Working Paper54

srsquo si

cial d

orsrsquo)

l of c

l driv

errsquos

ributi

cial d

eficit

srsquo

s of w

t of c

eficit

errsquos

ributi

eficit

srsquo si

redrsquo

lidity

srsquo) 8

l (sic

srsquo si

) of c

ndash ca

srsquo1

(SI ndash

fits a

L - ca

ical b

Working Paper56

srsquo3

ical b

s or p

srsquo w

(inclu

ical b

s as n

srsquo

t of c

ical b

srsquo4

rly in

rsquos re

ributi

srsquo

t of c

fits (

lic se

ISBN 978-92-5-133912-1

9 7 8 9 2 5 1 3 3 9 1 2 1

Box 1 Key concepts

Acknowledgements

1enspIntroduction








41 Lack of data





5enspConclusions

References

Documents

The state of social insurance for agricultural workers in